Tag Archives: Reconstruction Era

Reconstruction and Diplomacy: The 47th Pennsylvania in Georgia (Summer 1865)

War-damaged houses in Savannah, Georgia, 1865 (Sam Cooley, U.S. Army, U.S. Library of Congress, public domain).

Stationed in Savannah, Georgia since June 7, 1865, the soldiers still serving with the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry that first summer after the American Civil War were assigned to provost duties — as peacekeepers, public information specialists and public works officials, during what has since become known as the Presidential Reconstruction Era (1865-1867) of American History.

Commanded by Colonel John Peter Shindel Gobin, Lieutenant-Colonel Charles William Abbott and Major Levi Stuber, multiple members of the regiment were literally involved in the re-construction of small southern towns and larger cities, helping to shore up war-damaged structures that could be restored — and in tearing down others that were deemed too dangerous for civilians to leave standing.

John Young Shindel, M.D., assistant surgeon, 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1865 (public domain).

It was hazardous work, according to John Young Shindel, M.D., an assistant regimental surgeon who had joined the medical staff of the 47th Pennsylvania earlier that same year. On Wednesday, June 18, 1865, he noted that:

10 o’clock wall fell in and buried 15 or 20 men. 6 or 7 were taken out some dead. Zellner Co. K badly hurt. Sent him to Hosp. Capt. Hoffman, Chief of Police, seriously hurt. In P.M. was with Capt. Hoffman.

The 47th Pennsylvanian mentioned by Dr. Young was Private Ben Zellner, who had survived repeated battle wounds and confinement as a prisoner of war (POW) at two Confederate States Army prison camps, only to nearly lose his life while assigned to police duty during peacetime. According to Private Zellner’s 1896 account of that 1865 accident, his jawbone had been broken during the wall’s collapse “and he sustained 11 scalp wounds”; as a result, he “lost the sight of his left eye and the hearing of his left ear.”

The 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry’s Regimental Band performed in concert for James Johnson, provincial governor of the State of Georgia, at the Pulaski Hotel in Savannah on June 30, 1865 (Pulaski Hotel, Savannah, Georgia, circa 1906, U.S. Library of Congress, public domain).

Meanwhile, other 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were being transformed into diplomats. Officers and enlisted members of the regiment, for example, helped to facilitate a warm welcome for James Johnson, the provisional governor of Georgia, during his official visit to Savannah in early July. According to the Charleston Daily Courier, Governor Johnson (who had been appointed to his gubernatorial post by U.S. President Andrew Johnson (but was not related to the president), had been invited to Savannah by members of the city council “to address the citizens … at some suitable place.” In that invitation, council members also suggested that “military and naval commanders of the United States army and navy at this post and their respective staffs be respectfully invited to attend said meeting.” Johnson subsequently accepted the invitation and made the trip to Savannah in late June. The night of his arrival (June 30), “the fine band of the 47th Pennsylvania Regiment, Eugene Walter, Leader, serenaded the Governor at the Pulaski House.”

Several patriotic airs were played, and as soon as practicable the Governor appeared on one of the balconies, in response to repeated calls. He was loudly welcomed. He made no elaborate speech, but addressed the immense assembly substantially as follows:

“Fellow-Citizens — I thank you for the consideration, on your part, which has occasioned this demonstration. I know that you have called on me as the Provisional Governor of the State of Georgia, and in the discharge of the high duties now incumbent upon me, I promise you to act to the best of my ability. I know that you will not expect, on this occasion, any very full remarks. Hoping to meet you hereafter, and then to have an opportunity to explain my sentiments and position, I will bid you good night.”

This brief address was received with loud cheers by the crowd, and the band then played several other appropriate airs.

Joseph Eugene Walter, Regimental Band, 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers, circa 1861.

On July 1, the Savannah Republican newspaper published a more detailed description of that evening’s events:

Last evening, through the exertions of a few citizens, an impromptu call was made upon Gov. Johnson at the Pulaski by a delegation of loyal men, accompanied by the fine band of the 47th Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers, now stationed in this city. The object of the call was simply to manifest the joy of the people at the return of a loyal civil magistrate, who, in a measure, holds the future destiny of Georgia in his hands, and to pay the Governor the compliment of a serenade. After the band had performed several appropriate pieces of music, loud calls and cheers were given for the Governor, who at length appeared, and in a few brief remarks thanked the assemblage for their demonstrations of respect, and informed them that, being wearied with traveling he begged to be excused from making any formal speech. Before bidding the crowd good night, the Governor informed them that it would be his pleasure to address the people tonight at the Theatre, where he would state his position and give his views on the state of the country. Upon retiring, the crowd applauded and cheered the Governor lustily, while Johnson square was ablaze with the discharge of fire works, the shooting of rockets, roman candles, and the illumination of blue lights, gave the scene a very brilliant appearance and made the vicinity of Savannah lively for one hour. At a late hour the crowd quietly dispersed to their homes, well pleased with the impromptu ovation to the Governor. Governor Johnson was afterwards introduced to a large number of army officers, each of whom expresses the wish that the day was near when bayonets would not be necessary to maintain order in Georgia. The Governor, who is a most unostentatious gentleman, spoke very encouragingly of the future, and shook hands with all who were introduced.

The thanks of our citizens are due Colonel Gobin, of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers, for the services of his excellent band, whose presence made the hasty reception a success. The Colonel has very kindly offered the use of his band for the meeting this evening at the theatre, and we may expect a brilliant gathering of the masses tonight at 8 o’clock.

James Johnson, provisional governor of the State of Georgia, 1865 (Lawton B. Evans, A History of Georgia for Use in Schools, 1898, public domain).

On Saturday evening (July 1), Governor Johnson fulfilled his promise. During a lengthy address, he spoke about cooperation and the rule of law, the true meaning of citizenship and the path forward following the nationwide eradication of chattel slavery. The crowd, which had been attentive throughout his speech, gave him a robust round of applause, and peacefully dispersed, according to subsequent newspaper reports. The festivities, which continued into the next week, also included a “Grand Review of the Garrison,” which was held in Savannah on Monday afternoon, July 3. According to the Savannah Republican:

The review of the entire garrison by Major General H. W. Birge, on Monday afternoon, was certainly one of the finest military pageants that we have witnessed since the departure of Gen. Sherman’s army. For perfection of military movements, neatness of appearance and true soldierly bearing on the part of privates as well as officers, won encomiums from the vast crowd of spectators who witnessed the review. We don’t blame Gen. Birge to feel proud of such a noble body of gallant men as he has the honor to command, and we are fortunate in having so excellent a command garrisoning our city.

The following composes the troops that participated in the review:

Brigadier General Joseph D. Fessenden, commanding 1st Division.

1st Brigade, 1st Division, Col. L. Peck commanding. — 90th New York, Lt. Col. Schamman; 173d New York, Lt. Col. Holbrook; 160th New York, Lt. Col. Blanchard; 47th Pennsylvania, Col. Gobin.

2d Brigade, Col. H. Day commanding. — 131st New York, Capt. Tilosting commanding; 128th New York, Capt. _____ ; 14th New Hampshire, Lt. Col. Mastern.

3d Brigade, 2d Division, Col. Graham commanding. — 22d Iowa, Lt. Col. _____ ; 24th Iowa, Lt. Col. Wright; 28th Iowa, Lt. Col. Wilson.

4th Brigade, Brevet Brig. Gen. E. P. Davis commanding. — 153d _____ , Lt. Col. Loughlin; 30th Maine, Col. Hubbard; 12th Connecticut, Lt. Col. Lewis; 26th Massachusetts, Lt. Col. Chapman; 75th New York, Lt. Col. York; 103rd U.S.C.T., Major Manning.

Civil conversation, community concerts and displays of kindness toward strangers were indeed replacing bayonets — becoming the most powerful tools ever wielded by the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers as they helped to rescue their nation from disunion.

 

Sources:

  1. Bates, Samuel P. History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1865-1, vol. 1. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: B. Singerly, State Printer, 1869.
  2. “Comrade Zellner’s Birthday” (includes description of Private Benjamin F. Zellner’s injury in 1865 while serving with the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers during the Reconstruction Era). Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Allentown Leader, March 27, 1896.
  3. Evans, Lawton B. A History of Georgia for Use in Schools, p. 304. New York, New York: Universal Publishing Company, 1898.
  4. Foner, Eric. “Reconstruction.” Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Park Service, retrieved online July 1, 2025.
  5. “Governor Johnson’s Patriotic Address: A Stirring Appeal to Georgians.” Savannah, Georgia: Savannah Republican, July 6, 2025.
  6. “House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College.” Carlisle, Pennsylvania: Dickinson College, accessed July 1, 2025.
  7. “James Johnson,” in New Georgia Encyclopedia. Atlanta, Georgia: Georgia Humanities, retrieved online July 1, 2025.
  8. “Savannah Intelligence.” Charleston, South Carolina: Charleston Daily Courier, July 4, 1865.
  9. “Serenade to Our New Governor: The Pulaski House and Johnson Square Radiant with Fireworks: Remarks of the Governor: Music and Pyrotechnics.” Savannah, Georgia: Savannah Republican, July 1, 1865.
  10. Shindel, John Young. Diary and Personal Letters, 1865-1866. Allentown, Pennsylvania: Personal Collection of Lewis Schmidt.
  11. Wharton, Henry D. Letters from the Sunbury Guards, 1865. Sunbury, Pennsylvania: Sunbury American, 1865-1866.
  12. “The Grand Review of the Garrison.” Savannah, Georgia: Savannah Republican, July 6, 1865.
  13. “The History of the Forty-Seventh Regt. P. V.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Lehigh Register, July 20, 1870.

 

“Propitious Weather and a Splendid Spectacle”: The United States of America’s Grand Review of the Armies (May 23, 1865)

Lieutenant-General Ulysses S. Grant leans forward to have a better look at a Union regiment approaching the presidential reviewing stand, President Andrew Johnson to his left, Grand Review of the National Armies, Washington, D.C., May 23, 1865 (U.S. Library of Congress, public domain; click to enlarge).

It was a week to remember. The 47th Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers had survived the bloody Battle of Pocotaligo in South Carolina (October 1862) to make history as the only regiment from the Great Keystone State to participate in the Union’s 1864 Red River Campaign across Louisiana and help firmly, finally turn the tide of the American Civil War in the Union’s favor during Sheridan’s 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign — only to be brought to their knees in mourning, upon receiving the heartbreaking news that their beloved commander-in-chief had been assassinated — just as victory was at hand.

Now, they were joining more than one hundred and forty-five thousand other “boys in blue” in a triumphant march through the streets of Washington, D.C. that would subsequently be described by The New York Times as “The Grand Procession of Battle Stained Banners” and a “splendid spectacle” that was graced with “propitious weather.” The reporter penning those superlatives was describing the Union’s Grand Review of the National Armies, which took place from May 23 to 24.

The Army of the Potomac has passed in review. The first day’s pageant is over, and to the correspondent falls the duty of depicting a scene almost devoid of incident, save in its grand aspiration. Every circumstance has combined to make it a complete success. The weather has been magnificent; the air, delightfully tempered by the rains of the past week, is cool and fragrant, and dust, is for the time subdued….

Though the city is so crowded, it is yet gay and jovial with the good feeling that prevails, for the occasion is one of such grand import and true rejoicing, that small vexations sink out of sight. With many it is the greatest epoch of their lives; with the soldier it is the last act in the drama; with the nation it is the triumphant exhibition of the resources and valor which have saved it from disruption and placed it first upon earth.

So the scene of to-day (and that of to-morrow) will never be forgotten, and he who is privileged to be a witness will mark it as a white day in the calendar, from which to gather hope and courage for the future….

That Times reporter went on to describe the ways in which multiple Union Army regiments had made their way to the nation’s capital, where they had set up tents upon their respective arrivals and how they had assembled for the first day of the review, providing a list, line-by-line, of the long order of march — a list which included the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers. (Officially stationed at Camp Brightwood in the northwest corner of Washington, D.C. by early May 1865, the 47th Pennsylvanians had departed from that camp on Monday, May 22 to move closer to their assigned position for the Grand Review’s start, according to Private Henry Horn of Company G.)

19th Corps, Army of the United States, Grand Review of the National Armies, Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C., May 23, 1865 (Matthew Brady, U.S. Library of Congress, public domain).

The 47th Pennsylvania was just one of the one hundred and eighteen infantry regiments, twenty-nine cavalry regiments and thirty-three artillery batteries that boldly stepped forth from Capitol Hill on that first day of the Grand Review (May 23, 1865). Marching with the precision they were known for, under the banners of the Army of the Potomac (Mr. Lincoln’s Army), they were participants in a thrilling, six-hour parade, passing in front of a review stand that sheltered U.S. President Andrew Johnson, Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, Lieutenant-General Ulysses S. Grant, and other high-ranking officials of the military and federal government. According to the Times, the 47th Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers were positioned behind the parade’s third division, as part of the Nineteenth Army Corps (XIX Corps) in Dwight’s Division:

Third Division.
Brevet Brig.-Gen. John G. Curtin commanding.

First Brigade, Col. A. B. McCalmon commanding — 51st Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers, Col. William J. Bolton; 208th Pennsylvania, Lieut.-Col. M. T. Heintzelman; 209th Pennsylvania, Col. T. B. Kaufman; 200th Pennsylvania, Maj. Jacob Rehm.

Second Brigade, Col. J. A. Mathews commanding — 207th Pennsylvania, Col. R. C. Cox; 211th Pennsylvania, Lieut.-Col. Coulter; 205th Pennsylvania, Lieut.-Col. W. F. Walter.

Dwight’s Division.
Nineteenth Army Corps, Brig.-Gen. William Dwight commanding.

First Brigade, Brig.-Gen. G. L. Beal commanding — 15th Maine, Col. Isaac Dyer; 114th New York, Col. S. R. Per Lee; 29th Maine, Col. George H. Nye; 30th Massachusetts, Lieut.-Col. N. Shardman; 1st Maine Battalion, Capt. C. S. Brown.

Second Brigade, Brevet Brig.-Gen. E. P. Davis commanding — 153rd New York, Lieut.-Col. J. A. McLaughlin; 8th Vermont, Col. J. B. Mead; 12th Connecticut, Lieut.-Col. G. W. Lewis; 26th Massachusetts, Lieut.-Col. W. H. Chapman; 47th Pennsylvania, Col. J. P. S. Gobin.

Third Brigade, Brig.-Gen. J. D. Fessenden commanding — 173rd New York, Col. L. M. Peck; 160th New York, Col. C. C. Dwight; 162nd New York, Col. J. W. Blanchard; 133rd New York, Col. L. D. Currie; 30th Maine, Col. T. H. Hubbard.

Artillery Brigade, Brevet Brig.-Gen. J. C. Tidball commanding — 34th New York Battery, Brevet Maj. J. Roemer; 7th Maine Battery, Capt. A. B. Twitchell; 19th New York Battery, Capt. E. W. Rogers; Battery D, 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Artillery; Capt. S. H. Rhoads; 11th Massachusetts Battery, Capt. E. J. Jones; 27th New York Battery, Capt. J. B. Eaton.

Second State Colors, 47th Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers (presented to the regiment 7 March 1865).

Lest one be tempted to think that the 47th Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers were placed further back in the line of march because they were being accorded less respect, one only need look at the rosters of the men who immediately followed the 47th. The division positioned directly behind them was composed of general staff of the Army of the United States and regiments led by American Civil War icon and Gettyburg hero Joshua L. Chamberlain. Observed U.S. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, “You see in these armies, the foundation of the Republic: our future railroad managers, congressmen, bank presidents, senators, manufacturers, judges, governors and diplomats; yes and not less than half a dozen presidents.”

John Peter Shindel Gobin, 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers, shown here as a captain in 1863, went on to become lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania after the war (public domain).

Among the 47th Pennsylvanians who would continue to serve their communities, commonwealth and nation faithfully were future city councilmen, industrialists, inventors, judges, a three-time mayor, newspaper publishers, physicians, policemen, federal postmasters, local school board members, and a state senator who would be publicly elected as Pennsylvania’s seventh lieutenant governor. Each one had experienced the horrors of war. All were forever changed. So, please take time this Memorial Day weekend to read and share their stories with your family, friends and neighbors — and say their names as you offer a toast in tribute to their valor. We owe them at least that much for the sacrifices they made to save our nation.

 

Sources:

  1. Bates, Samuel P. History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-5, vol. 1. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: B. Singerly, State Printer, 1869.
  2. “Grand Military Review: Streets Crowded with Spectators: Sherman Greeted with Deafening Cheers.” Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: The Daily Post, May 25, 1865.
  3. “Our Heroes! The Grand Review at Washington. Honor to the Brave. Immense Outpouring of the People. The Troops Reviewed by Gen. Grant.” Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Daily Telegraph, May 23, 1865.
  4. “Review of the Armies; Propitious Weather and a Splendid Spectacle. Nearly a Hundred Thousand Veterans in the Lines.” New York, New York: The New York Times, May 24, 1865, front page.
  5. Rodrock, Rev. William D. C. Chaplain’s Reports (47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, 1865). Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
  6. Schmidt, Lewis. A Civil War History of the 47th Regiment of Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers. Allentown, Pennsylvania: Self-published, 1986.
  7. “Serenade to General Grant” (performance for Lieutenant-General Ulysses S. Grant by the 47th Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers’ Regimental Band), in “Washington.” Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Inquirer, May 22, 1865.
  8. “The Final March: Grand Review of the Armies.” Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Park Service, retrieved online May 20, 2025.
  9. “The Grand Review: A Grand Spectacle Witnessed.” Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: The Daily Post, May 24, 1865.
  10. “The Grand Review: Immense Crowds in Washington: Fine Appearance of the Troops: Their Enthusiastic Reception.” Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Daily Telegraph, May 24, 1865; and West Chester, Pennsylvania: The Record, May 17, 1865.
  11. “The Grand Review: The City Crowded with Visitors: Order of Corps, Divisions, Brigades and Regiments.” Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Daily Constitutional Union, May 23, 1865.
  12. “The History of the Forty-Seventh Regt. P. V.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Lehigh Register, 20 July 1870.