62d Pennsylvania Volunteers
an American Civil War Infantry Regiment
Regimental History and
Company Rosters, Corrected and Enhanced
62d Pennsylvania Volunteersan American Civil War Infantry RegimentRegimental History and |
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Regimental History |
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| Casualties: Summary, Detailed Report |
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Company Rosters |
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Allegheny & Washington Counties: K |
Other counties: D (Armstrong); C and E (Clarion); I (Jefferson); M (Blair) |
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Field and Staff Officers, Company Musicians & Unassigned Soldiers |
Alphabetical Listing of All Volunteers, with links to their Companies |
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Sources |
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ALERT. STOLEN ITEMS: Items related to the 62d Pennsylvania Volunteers were stolen from Marshall County Courthouse Museum, in Marysville, KS. Diaries were noticed stolen on 05/29/2004, and the John Watson photo album, the source for many of these portraits, was noticed stolen on 06/22/2001. If you have any information related to the diaries or photo album or can otherwise help the investigation, please contact: |
Officer Timothy Anderson |
Each of the companies had names before they were assigned letter designations.
Listed here are the original names of the companies of the 62d and the counties
or communities in which they were recruited. For each company there is a separate
page with its roster of officers, musicians, and privates. The principal source
of information for company rosters is Samuel Penniman Bates' History of the
Pennsylvania Volunteers, but the rosters have been corrected, collaborated,
or supplemented from other sources, especially the Civil
War Veterans' Card File, 1861-1866, available from the Digital Archives of the State of Pennsylvania. If you have
an ancestor that is not included here and have information to share, please
let me know, and I will gladly update
the rosters to include missing soldiers or correct or add to the information
I have listed. Portraits of volunteers, sent in digital form, are especially welcome.
| A: | Federal Guards | Allegheny County [updates from Civil War Veterans' Card File, 1861-1866 complete.] |
| B: | McKee Rifle Cadets | Allegheny County, principally Birmingham [modern Pittsburgh's South Side] |
| C: | Lyon Guards | Clarion County [updates from Civil War Veterans' Card File, 1861-1866 complete.] |
| D: | Finlay Cadets | Armstrong County, plus Indiana County [updates from Civil War Veterans' Card File, 1861-1866 complete.] |
| E: | Rimersburg Raiders | Clarion County |
| F: | Eighth Ward Guards, A | Pittsburgh [updates from Civil War Veterans' Card File, 1861-1866 complete.] |
| G: | Kramer Guards | Allegheny County |
| H: | St. Clair Guards | Allegheny County, principally around the area of Bethel Park and Lower and Upper St. Clair |
| I: | Jefferson Guards | Jefferson County [updates from Civil War Veterans' Card File, 1861-1866 complete.] |
| K: | Eighth Ward Guards, B | Allegheny and Washington Counties [updates from Civil War Veterans' Card File, 1861-1866 complete.] |
| L: | Chambers Zouaves | Pittsburgh |
| M: | Blair Guards | Blair County |
The 62d Pennsylvania Voluntary Regiment, Infantry, was created on the 4th of July 1861, the same day Congress assembled in extra session to authorize a levy for the recruitment of 500,000 soldiers. Sam Black, ex-governor of the Nebraska territory, had returned in June 1861 to his native Pittsburgh, a city then alive with war fever with thousands of volunteers forming into scores of home guard and other military companies. Black quickly rose to the top of the military circles and used his influence to be granted authority by Simon Cameron, United States Secretary of War, to recruit a regiment. He and about 30 residents of Allegheny County were mustered in as officers on the 4th, and they immediately began their recruitment efforts in Pittsburgh and elsewhere in Western Pennsylvania. The regiment was was virtually full in less than two weeks. Many volunteers enlisted on the 4th, but were not mustered in until later in the month.
Although the number 62 might not indicate that the volunteers were among the early wave of patriots to join the war effort, this regiment was one of the first three-year regiments to leave Pittsburgh. The regiment's original designation was as the 33d Independent Regiment. The enumeration problem stemmed from the authority Black received to recruit. Black had recruited his regiment under federal authority outside the Pennsylvania Reserve Corps system, so he lacked state authority to muster in a regiment of Pennsylvania volunteers. The re-designation from 33d to 62d did not occur until 19 November 1861.
One reason the issue took so long to resolve was because both federal and state efforts had been made to recruit regiments, and a certain amount of petty jealousies resulted. The federal government put a quota on the number of three-month regiments required from each state. In Pennsylvania, the quota was filled in less than a week, and only six Allegheny County companies were included. Governor Curtin of Pennsylvania and others in the state campaigned to allow the quotas to be overfilled, but their efforts were turned down. Independently, then, the governor called a special session of the legislature to bypass the quota system. Legislation was passed on 15 May 1861 to organize the 'Reserve Corps of the Commonwealth' for defense of the state. The corps initially consisted of thirteen regiments of infantry, one of cavalry, and one of artillery, formed from companies to be furnished by the counties in proportion to the number of men already in service from each county. Curtain became known as a War Governor and was all for the union, and he was foresighted enough to know that additional regiments would be needed, but he did act with a certain amount of states rights adamancy.
The regiment was recruited one company at a time and only then formed as a regiment. Some of the 62d's companies grew out of already existing Home Guard units and other military groups formed as boys and men had been swept up with military fervor even before the election of Abraham Lincoln. Their numbers and ranks greatly expanded after August 1860, when Elmer Elsworth's Chicago Zouaves, a precision military drill company with exotically gaudy uniforms, visited Pittsburgh. Among the earliest formed groups that would become companies in the 62d were the Eighth Ward Guards (also known as the Eighth Ward Rifles), the Federal Guards, and the St. Clair Guards. The Eighth Ward Guards was such a large unit that it was split to become Company F and a good part of Company K. The Federal Guards and St. Clair Guards became Companies A and H. A second wave of patriotic zeal erupted after Lincoln made his first call for volunteers in early April of 1861 (shortly after he took office), and subsequent waves came from the official call by the War Department and then Governor Curtin's call for regiments to serve in the Pennyslvania Reserve. The Jefferson Guards is an example of one of these later forming units. In Jefferson County, a company was rallied together in hopes of joining one of the original three-months regiments. Although it failed to form in time, enough volunteers were recruited to create two companies. One company eventually joined one of the Pennsylvania Reserves regiments , but the B Company had to keep looking for a regiment to join.
Since the companies were all privately funded and independently trained before the regiment was formed, there was a great diversity in skill and readiness. Of the more than 45 military groups that existed in Allegheny County by late April, only 20 of them were armed with even as much as old flintlock muskets. Fewer had uniforms. Most company names reflected geographical appellations or honored a generous benefactor.
As one means of recruiting, a broadside with these words appeared on the streets of Pittsburgh and other towns and villages in western Pennsylvania in July of 1861:
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VOLUNTEERS WANTED Col. S. W. Black This regiment is accepted by the Secretary of War. TO BE MUSTERED IN IMMEDIATELY Head quarters, Old Pennsylvania Bank, Second Street, above Walnut. |
The 62d Pennsylvania volunteers must have joined for many different reasons. Many were caught
up in the general war fever that was rampant. The Fourth of July in 1861 was
celebrated in Pittsburgh by a grand parade of Home Guard companies and many
passionate and persuasive speakers. Sam
Black, a soldier, lawyer and politician, was the best of them, according
to several sources. Sam Black was an expert stump speaker. He was sparkling
with wit and often thrillingly eloquent. When aroused, his whole frame shook,
his locks were tossed about, and his eyes flashed fire. He had been a Lieutenant-Colonel
in the Mexican War and gone on to become governor of Nebraska Territory. Black
returned to Pittsburgh for the sole purpose of organizing a regiment in Lincoln's
army, even though it was Lincoln who removed him from office in Nebraska. Black's
oratory helped him become a very successful recruiter. Few audiences could resist
his transcendent power over them, including the audience on that 4th of July
in Pittsburgh.
Major Gust Lowry (writing when he was the 1st Lieutenant of Company C) explains somewhat his reason for joining the regiment in a letter written early in the Peninsular Campaign: "We all know that there is a God of battles, and I hope we may all trust in him and to his will. And I hope that my dear friends at home will not regret that I have come here. I have only done what seems to be the duty of all young men and what so many have done. I could not have stayed at home & not thought that I was shirking a duty, and loosin [sic] respect in myself."
Feelings of patriotic duty aside, many must have seen the war as an adventure and novelty. The company was fully recruited a week before the First Battle of Bull Run had been fought, so the grim reality of war was yet unreported. There were still expectations of a quick victory, so although they must have realized they would be facing death and injury, few believed they would have to serve the long three years or imagine the boredom and hardship that army life would provide. Some, of course, must have joined for remunerative reasons. $13 a month was very good pay for many, and, additional state aid was promised to families of soldiers. In July 1861, however, generous bounties were not yet being paid to enlistees, so patriotism might have weighed in more heavily as a recruiting factor than it could have later. Side note: From company records, it appears that the regiment was paid on the 30th of even-numbered months, except when they were on the march on in the midst of battle.
The original volunteers did not step forward because of a bounty. However, since a federal law was passed between the time most signed up (the 4th of July) and when they were mustered in (24 July or later), authorizing the states to pay a bounty of $100 as a recruitment tool, they should have been eligible to receive one. It is not clear that they ever did. From the act of 22 July 1861 (12 Stat. L., 268), in which President Lincoln was authorized to call up half a million soldiers:
SECTION 5. * * * Every volunteer, noncommissioned officer, private, musician,
and artificer who enters the service of the United States under this act
shall be paid at the rate of 50 cents in lien of subsistence. * * * And in
addition thereto, if he shall have served for a period of two years, or during
the war, if sooner ended, the sum of $100.
A bill proposed in the House of Representatives in 1884 provides evidence that the volunteers of the 62d P.V. had had their $100 withheld. The bill was to authorize the Committee on the Payment of Pensions, Bounty, and Back Pay to make the payment of bounty hitherto withheld from the volunteers of the Sixty-second Regiment Pennsylvania Infantry. I have yet to find a record that the bill became law, so I don't know if the volunteers, at least those honorably discharged after serving at least two years, ever received their money or not.
Perhaps it sounds odd today, but anti-slavery sentiment was very unlikely to have been a motive for many volunteers in this regiment. Because its recruiting officers, especially Sam Black and J. Bowman Sweitzer, were active leaders of Democratic Party, a "great majority of [the 62d] were of the Democratic faith." [Under the Maltese Cross], and the Democratic Party strongly opposed the abolitionist movement. As governor of the Nebraska Territory, Sam Black had vetoed an anti-slavery bill. In the first fugitive slave case to be tried in Pittsburgh, Sweitzer, then a United States Commissioner, took action to prevent the slave from being rescued, but instead ordered that he be returned to his owner.
The regiment appears to be unusually heterogeneous -- for its time, at least. City slickers marched alongside farmhands. Because of the urban/rural mix of the volunteers, there was a large diversity. The most common occupations of volunteers from Pittsburgh, Birmingham, and Allegheny City (then all separate municipalities) were glass workers, boatmen, rivermen, miners, and iron workers. My favorite name for an occupation was puddler, the job itself sounds difficult. Puddlers stirred molten iron or glass with rods in furnaces. There were no steelworkers that I know of, since modern steel industry was still in its infancy, and Andrew Carnegie was a decade away from building his first steel plant. Glass was the biggest industry, and Birmingham was the glass center of America at the time with over 75 glass factories. Glass industry jobs included glass blowers, moulders, rollers, cutter, and packers. Farmers, lumbermen, miners, and carpenters were the most common occupations of the rural counties, but a considerable number of farmers lived in Allegheny County as well. Other occupations included laborers, blacksmiths, butchers, bakers, teamsters and wagoners, both brick makers and brick layers, clerks, and merchants. In addition to many shoe and boot makers and boat builders were a few cigar makers, a watchmaker, a whip maker, an axe maker, an axe varnisher, an axe polisher, a hoe grinder, and several wagon makers. There were a couple of car builders, but I don't know what kind of cars they might have built. One sergeant in Company M had been a "Tel. Operator." Many in the regiment were school boys, and there were a few law students and several teachers. There was one artist and several painters, but the latter were probably not the artistic kind. At least one doctor volunteered not as a surgeon but a simple private. If any were unemployed, the records do not so indicate. More than ninety percent came from Pennsylvania, but a sizeable number came from Ohio and some from Virginia (the part of the state that soon would become West Virginia).
Colonel Black was joined by other lawyers and aspiring politicians and other professionals among the ranks of the officers. At least a few called themselves Gentemen. However, there were many officers who were carpenters, clerks, hotel keepers, and farmers. If a majority of the 62d were "of the Democratic faith," substantial numbers of the volunteers, especially those from rural counties, were probably Republicans. Fanatical prohibitionists joined those about whom we might say favored more than an occasional nip. Some, of course, shared a bit in common with both camps. Jake Shenkel, a drummer from Company L, in his war diary, records both attending numerous Sunday services and prayer meetings and getting "three sheets to the wind" on just as many occasions. An additional distinction for the 62d was its mix of ethnic groups and religions. Native-born and immigrants both were welcomed into the regiment. There is certainly an abundance of English and Scottish names, but there are also many Irish, German, and French. At least one soldier, Harvey Koontz or Coonce, according to his 1860 Census listing, was a mulatto. I can't tell the origin for quite a few, such as Frinifrock, Gazzam, Kisskaddon, Levake, Maissaick, Ong, Probasco, and Unks.
In the 62d Pennsylvania, unlike many other regiments, Catholics, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Episcopalians, other protestants, Free Thinkers, and Jews fought side by side. One company (H) was largely filled with members from the same Presbyterian church. One indication of the ecumenical harmony is from a statement about the 62d made from soldiers in the Ninth Massacusetts regiment that was primarily Irish Catholic. The two regiments were particularly attached by ties of strong friendship that continued throughout their entire service. The regimental history notes that "They [the 62d] joined in our little festivities and we engaged in theirs. They participated in our celebrations on Saint Patrick's day with as much zest as "those to the manner born." It was thus we went through the hardships of our soldier life."
The 62d possibly had a few Jewish officers. If so it would have been one of only a few regiments, not primarily Jewish, that included Jewish officers. Three books, including Isaac Markens' self-published Hebrews in America (1888), Henry Samuel Morais' The Jews of Philadelphia, and Simon Wolf's The American Jew as Patriot, Soldier, and Citizen (1895), list three Jewish officers in the 62d Pennsylvania: Captain Gremitz (no first name) and a Sergeants Emanuel Myers and Cohen (no first name). It is likely that the later books simply repeated information from the first, however, and are not independent sources. All names are listed without company information, and unfortunately I can find no matches for them in roster lists. The closest name to Gremitz I can find is Captain Detrick Gruntz of Company L. There is a Sergeant Myers in Company G, but his name is listed Jacob Myers. I can find no Sergeant Cohen, but there is a Sergeant Milton C. Goheen in Company C. The Goheen family was Presbyterian, according to a Goheen family genealogist who contacted me, so my best guess was disproven. The claim by Morais that the officers were from Philadelphia may indicate the number of the regiment was mis-transcribed. Jules Cohen served as an assistant surgeon [surg not serg], for the 26th Pennsylvania Infantry, a Philadelphia regiment. Unfortunately, I can't uncover any captains there with names similar to Gremitz. I have nothing closer than a Captain William L. Grubb. I find no one named Myers, Myer, Meyers, Meyer, Mayer, or any other variations on that name serving as sergeant in the 26th. Five men named Emmanuel Myers served in Pennsylvania regiments, but none are listed as anything but privates, and none served in either the 62d or the 26th. Although I have doubts in general about claims of Jewish officers in the 62d, I find the possibility intriguing.
In other ways the regiment was probably very typical. Certainly the regiment included both hard-workers and law abiders as well as rascals, scoundrels, shirkers, and outright thieves and pickpockets. Brothers, cousins, and other family members served together. There were a few fathers and sons serving in the same company. Sergeant William Hagerson signed up with his son Asa to join Company D. Also in Company D, Corporal Wesley K. Dillon was the son of Reuben Dillon a private. Wesley was only 15 when he joined. There were were a few soldiers listed as 14 years old when they mustered in, and some who may have been that age or younger whose age was not listed or was listed differently. George W. Freeman of Company E, was officially 14, and census records confirm his age. Conrad Dittmere, a musician in Company B who deserted (date unknown), was listed as 14 when he mustered in, but census records indicate he might actually have been 6. only wish I could find more about him. The vast majority of privates were aged 18 to 25, but many were in their thirties and more than a handful over 40. Of the enlisted soldiers, the oldest I have found so far was Thomas A. Work, of Company E, who mustered in at age 51. John Hauch of Company F was listed as 45, but according to the 1870 Census would actually have been 50 at the time when he mustered in with his son Lewis, who may not have been 16, even though his age was listed as 19. John N. Hauch was discharged for "S.C. of D. & old age." The personal information is missing from Civil War Veterans' Card File, 1861-1866 for Bonaparte Hardin, but his age may have been 59 when he mustered in — there is only one Bonaparte Hardin, including variations of spelling, from Pennsylvania or other northern states, in each of several census records leading up to the Civil War. I have looked up more than half of the volunteers in the Civil War Veterans' Card File, 1861-1866, but have a lot more to go, so I may find someone even older. Because of the ommisions, inaccuracies (some of which were purposeful), we may never know who the youngest and oldest really were.
Ten companies were mustered into service on 24 July 1861, for three years. On 31 August 1861, Companies L and M were added to the regiment, and it was officially organized and designated as the Pennsylvania 33d Independent Regiment.
To conform to Army regulations for volunteer infantry regiments, each of the companies, now identified by letter instead of name, would have consisted of a Captain, a First Lieutenant and a Second Lieutenant, a First Sergeant and four Sergeants, eight Corporals, a minimum of 64 and a maximum of 82 privates, a wagoner, and 2 musicians. The whole regiment was commanded by a Colonel, aided by a Lieutenant-Colonel, a Major, and a small regimental staff including an Adjutant, a Quartermaster, a Surgeon (who was given the rank of Major), a Chaplain, a Sergeant-Major, a Quartermaster's Sergeant, a Commissary-Sergeant, and a Hospital Steward. In addition regulations required a regimental band. Reports indicate that the regiment started out full, so that would have numbered 1000 to 1200 soldiers. Substantial numbers were lost to disease over the first winter, before the first battle was fought. For most of the war there was no regular nor permanent system for recruiting soldiers, so the regiment never achieved full strength again. Before the Battle at Gettysburg, the 62d Pennsylvania regiment was close to 400 soldiers, and in the immediate aftermath of the battle it could barely muster a hundred. On only two occasions were significant numbers of soldiers added, after Gettysburg and before Grant's Overland Campaign. It is possible that regimental officers took leaves of absence to go on recruiting missions, but I have seen no record of it. In the two months following the Battle of Gettysburg over a hundred soldiers were added, and in the period of February through March 1864, preceding Grant's final Overland Campaign, perhaps fifty soldiers refilled the ranks of the regiment. In no other month were there as many as twenty new soldiers. When Companies L and M were transferred to the 91st Pennsylvania Volunteers when the rest of the 62d were mustered out, there was an aggregate of 46 between the two companies, only a quarter of their original size. Approximately 1600 soldiers served with the 62d Pennsylvania Volunteers at some time during the three years.
I don't know what to make of the fact that two chaplains quit, and the regiment was without a chaplain for most of its service. In the History of the Newspapers of Beaver County, Pennsylvania by Francis Smith Reader (1905), there is a note that Smith Curtis, who was born and educated in New York State, was ordained a minister in 1861 and "in 1862 was elected Chaplain of the 62d Pennsylvania Volunteers, but was not permitted to serve." No further explanation is provided. He later left the ministry and became a newspaper publisher.
The Pennsylvania 62d Infantry Regiment served in the Army of the Potomac throughout its three years of existence. It was originally assigned to the Second ([Brigader-General George W.] Morell's) Brigade of [Major-General Fitz John] Porter's Division of the Third Army Corps, commanded by General Samuel P. Heintzelman. In the reorganization of the Army after the Siege of Yorktown (the 62d's first encounter with the Confederate army), when two additional army corps were created, the 62d was assigned to the Second Brigade of the First Division of the Fifth Provisional Army Corps. After the War Department confirmed the re-organization on 22 July 1862, the "Fifth Provisional Army Corps" became the Fifth Army Corps of the Army of the Potomac. As regiments were mustered in and out and the army reorganized several more times, the make-up of the Second Brigade changed, but the 62d Pennsylvania remained in Second Brigade of the First Division of the Fifth Corps until it was mustered out. The 62d Pennsylvania's companion regiments in the brigade included the 14th New York (1st Oneida County Regiment), 9th Massachusetts (Boston's Irish Ninth), 32d Massachusetts, and 4th Michigan. Other regiments and batteries served along side the 62d Pennsylvania more briefly.
In the spring of 1863, after General Daniel Butterfield became chief-of-staff of the Army of the Potomac under General Joseph Hooker, he instituted a system of Corps Badges to distinguish units. The badges were distinctive shapes of flannel cloth about an inch and one-half wide that were sewn or fastened onto soldiers' caps. The Fifth Corps (Butterfield's old corps) was assigned the Maltese Cross. The divisions of the corps were assigned different colors. The First Division of every corps was red, so the insignia of each regiment in the First Division of the Fifth Corps (including the 62d Pennsylvania) was a red Maltese Cross
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According to Sergeant William Smith of Company D, the regiment was camped initially in a cow pasture in the city of Allegheny, now Pittsburgh's North Side. He indicated, in "Transactions of the Kansas State Historical Society," 1902, that the location is "now a magnificent park, adorned by the Carnegie Free Institute." I believe he is referring to West Park, Western Pennsylvania's first urban park which was originally common grazing land. Next to the park is the Allegheny Branch of the Carnegie Library, which was the original Carnegie Free Library. It is also very near where the Pittsburgh Pirates and Steelers play. Smith also noted in an address before the national encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic, held at Pittsburgh in 1892, that after the battle of Bull Run, the secretary of war inquired when Black's regiment would be ready for the field, and the colonel responded as soon as transportation could be furnished. In three hours a young telegraph messenger brought into camp an order for the regiment to move to Washington immediately. The young messenger, according to Smith, was Andrew Carnegie.
On 24 July 1861, the regiment moved from Pittsburgh to Camp Cameron, near Harrisburg. After Companies L and M were added on the last day of August, the regiment proceeded to Baltimore, camping at Patterson's Port, across the harbor from Fort McHenry. From Patterson's Port, the regiment proceeded to Washington, encamping at Camp Rapp, on Kendall Green, in the northern suburbs of the city, where Gallaudet University is located presently. Only after it arrived at Fort Rapp was the regiment fully outfitted with clothing, equipment, and arms. Six of the companies received Springfield rifles; the other six received Enfields, the older smooth bore muskets. On 11 September 1861, the regiment crossed the Potomac and went into camp near Fort Corcoran, close to the southern bank near the Aqueduct Bridge. There it was assigned to the Second Brigade of Porter's Division. Technically the regiment was at Fort Corcoran to defend Washington, but it was here that volunteer soldiers were drilled into a fighting unit.
While still in their early days of drilling, several members of Company D had an encounter with a stranger. Could a regimental history be complete without a good Abraham Lincoln anecdote?
The winning regiments received Chasseur uniforms. According to a diary entry from a soldier in a companion regiment, the uniforms were first worn in a ceremony just before Christmas. Wilson, from companion regiment 22d Massachusetts, wrote: "Dec. 21, Porter's division, comprising fifteen thousand troops, were reviewed at Ball's Cross-roads, and, although small as compared with that of Bailey's Cross-roads, it was a grand spectacle. The Sixty-second and Eighty-third Pennsylvania Volunteers appeared for the first time in their new Chasseur uniforms, and were each presented with a stand of colors. After the review the division was drilled, and the affair had quite the appearance of a battle. Secretary Cameron was present, and also Gen. McClellan."
A
description of the uniform was provided in a newspaper article (source unknown)
included with a packet of James L. Graham's letters: "It is blue. The breeches are about three feet across the hips,
tapering down to the ankle; a sort of blue monkey jacket, a large cape with
a hood fastened to the back of it; one tight cloth skull cap with a tassel,
and a dress parade cap which very much resembles our old patent leather cap.
This cap has a plume of red, white, and blue feathers." Another description is recorded
in the History of the 83d Pennsylvania. The portrait of Sam Temple to the right shows well how baggy the pants actually were. The volunteers in the double portrait to the left may be members of the 62d P. V. or the 83d P. V. The portrait is a copy of a tintype that surfaced in Sharon, Pa., and is presented on this website courtesy of the Marcus S. McLemore Collection, Poland, Ohio. If the soldiers hailed from Sharon or had family living there, it is uncertain which regiment they might have joined. Sharon, in Mercer County, is somewhat half way between Pittsburgh, principle home of the 62d, and Erie, the home base of the 82d. Details from the Civil War Veterans' Card File reveals several 62d volunteers were from Mercer and neighboring Lawrence and Venango Counties. If you recognize the individuals or can help in detemining their identity, please contact me. For other images of the uniform, see the portrait of William
Hays of Company E (although he had his picture taken without the cap), George
Killmer of Company L (seen in the full garment from cap on down), and Charles Seager, Sergeant-Major of the regiment, although the portrait was probably made when he was still serving in Company F. Ernie Spisak's article
on the 62d in Gettysburg Magazine quotes an Altoona Tribune reporter, "I am sure it is the ugliest garment on the banks of the Potomac."
None the less, many volunteers thought it a "big thing" and hurried to be
photographed in the new uniforms. The 62d was further rewarded, perhaps more beneficially, by being
re-armed so that the entire regiment was now issued the improved Springfield
rifles.
The Chasseur de Vincennes uniforms
won by the 62d were never worn into battle. According to Private Graham's
letters, the regiment received the uniforms in late 1861 and wore them in
camp for a time. Colonel Black, likely recognizing their unsuitability for
active campaigning, eventually ordered them packed up. Another problem is noted in a letter from Col. Mclane of the 83d P.V. to General Butterfield. One third of uniforms were too small to fit any of his volunteers and his entire regiment could not be fitted with what remained. Black no doubt experienced the same allotment. The uniforms were sent back
to Washington with the extra baggage in January 1862. The 62d returned
to their old sky-blue uniforms, with low shoes, leather gaiters and leather
leggings up to the knee. Ironically, some of the volunteers may have ending up wearing parts of the uniforms later in the war. The 155th Pennsylvania, awarded the right to wear Zouave uniforms just bfore the Battle of Gettysburg, were not issued genuine Zouave cut trousers, but received the old Chasseur pants that the Quartmasters Department pulled out of storage. Some members of the 62d joined the 155th after the 62d was mustered out, so a few of the volunteers may have worn parts of the gaudy uniforms both at the beginning and the end of their military careers. In February, 1862, while still drilling at Camp Bettie Black and before they had seen any combat, several officers, non-commissioned officers, and soldiers from Company I signed an "Oath of Sobriety." [Thanks to George Wilkinson, collector and researcher of the Fourth Michigan Regiment, for sending me the image of the oath. He is offering the original for sale, if anyone is interested.] They pledged to abstain from intoxicating liquors for the duration of the war. There is no record what prompted the soldiers to take the oath, whether or not other companies had similar oaths nor how successful any of the soldiers of Company I were in fulfilling their pledge. In the diary of Jacob Shenkel of Company L, he describes an order issued against smuggling whiskey into camp and punishments for getting drunk. Privates would be tied up and officers would be reduced in rank without trial. Shenkel, however, also notes in one entry that his friend Bash Cowen "was a little in the Wind from the effects of some milk mixed with a little something stronger than water." The same friend faced court-martial in March 1863 for breaking into the medical supplies and stealing a couple bottles of whiskey. Whiskey and brandy were the medicinals most widely used by regimental surgeons.
Taps was first heard in the Fifth Corps during the Peninsular Campaign. Daniel Butterfield wrote (or adapted) it with the assistance of bugler Oliver Norton of the 83rd Pennsylvania, when Butterfield commanded the Third Brigade of the First Division of the Fifth Corps. The soldiers of the 62d Pennsylvania, in the Second Brigade, undoubtedly would have been among the very first to hear it, and a bugle from the 62d may have been one of the first outside Butterfield's brigade to play it. Despite a legend that quickly arose that the tune had been written in a tragic response to discovering that a dead Confederate soldier was the composer's son, neither Butterfield nor Norton had a son in the Confederate ranks. Instead they wrote Taps and other bugle calls possibly for no better reason than to while away the time awaiting orders while in camp at Harrison's Landing toward the end of the Peninsular Campaign. Taps was a revision to the signal for Lights Out, a tune Butterfield disliked.
Listed here are the campaigns and battles in which the 62d Pennsylvania saw action, as well as some notable marches and encampments.
 | This Brigade flag of the 2d Brigade 1st Division of the 5th Corps saw action in one of the most brutal
battles of Gettysburg; the Wheat Field (note the musket ball holes). The
red Maltese cross designated 5th Corps, the field of white; 1st Division,
and the vertical blue stripe; 2nd Brigade. Colonel Jacob Bowman Sweitzer commanded the 2d Brigade at Gettysburg. It is believed that a member of the 62nd donated
this flag to the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall and Military Museum, Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania, from whom this image was obtained.
My thanks to Grant Gerlich, Curator of Collections, for permitting its
use on this site, and to Mimi Reed, descendant of Colonel Sweitzer, for
sending it to me. |
Defense of Washington, September 1861 to March 1862.
Reconnaissance at Manassas, 10 - 12 March 1862.
Reconnaissance at Big Bethel, 27 March 1862. MORE
The Siege at Yorktown, from 3 April to 4 May, 1862.
Battle at Hanover Court House, on 27 May 1862.
Battle
at Mechanicsville, also known as Beaver Dam Creek, on 26 June 1862.
MORE
Battle at Gaines Mill, also known as Chickahominy and First Cold Harbor,
on 27 June 1862.
Battle at Malvern Hill, on 1 and 2 July 1862; last of the Seven Days'
Battles.
Second Battle at Bull Run, also known as Second Manassas, on
29 and 30 August 1862.
Battle at Antietam, also known as Sharpsburg,
on 17 September 1862.
Engagement at Shepherdstown Ford, 19 September 1862.
Boteler's Ford, 19-20 September 1862.
Battle
at Fredericksburg, from 13 to 16 December 1862.
The Mud March, 20-24 January 1863. MORE
Battle
at Chancellorsville from 30 April 1863 to 3 May 1863. Engagement
at Kelly's Ford, on 11 June 1863. Engagements
at Middleburg and Upperville, Virginia, on 19, 21, and 22
June 1863.
Battle
at Gettysburg on 2 July 1863.
Battle
at Bristoe
Station, 14 October.
Engagement
at Rappahannock
Station on 7 November 1863Battle
at Mine
Run, Virginia on 27 November 1863
Battle
in The Wilderness, on 5 through 8 May 1864.
Battle
at Spottsylvania Court House, on 8 to 15 May 1864Battle
at North Anna River, on 23 and 25 May 1864
Engagements
at Pamunkey Creek and Totopotomoy Creek, on 28, 29, 30 May 1864
Battle
at Cold Harbor, on 3 June 1864
Battle
at Jerusalem Plank Road, on 18-21 June 1864
Here is a brief summary of the casualties suffered by the 62d based on three different estimates. See the Casualties page are more complete details, comparisons, and figures for specific campaigns and battles.
Figures included in a Gettysburg Memorial volume indicate that among the 1600 volunteers who served in the 62d Pennsylvania that 241 were killed, 503 wounded, and 158 captured or missing in action, for an aggregate of 902 casualties, or approximately 56% of the regiment.
A list compiled by Frederick H. Dyer in 1908 indicates an even higher figure of 258 killed. Dyer does not list other casualties.
Colonel William Fox's Regimental Losses, which was written in 1888, has entirely different figures for the 62d Pennsylvania. Out of 1571 total enrolled, Fox indicates that 169 were killed. I don't know the source for Fox's figures beyond a statement in his preface regarding "courtesies extended by the Adjutant-Generals of the various State Military Bureaus, and the Adjutant-General's office at Washington," and his own "patient and conscientious labor of years," rather than information from official records.
The 62d's first casualties occurred before its first battle. The winter of 1861-62, while still in camp, a malignant form of camp fever (as typhoid was often called) prevailed. Malaria and other contagious diseases were also rampant. William Hays, of Company E, lamented, "a grate many Sick people in our ragiment with the favor and ague and Sam died with it." Several soldiers died with it, but fortunately for Hays he was not one of them. He survived the war to marry and have 16 children.
A high percentage of deaths among the enlisted soldiers in the 62d Pennsylvania were caused by disease. Accurate statistics on deaths due to disease are difficult to determine. Colonel William Fox in The Chances of Being Hit in Battle (Century Magazine, May 1888), an analysis of battlefield casualties, lists for the 62d Pennsylvania 89 deaths due to disease, accident, or prison. This calculates to about 34%, using Fox's total figures. Fox chose only 23 "crack fighting units" to compare for this category, and he and more modern researchers estimate that for the Union army as a whole more than two thirds of all deaths were caused by disease. If Fox's numbers for the 62d are close to accurate, the regiment remained remarkably healthy.
The most common deadly diseases were (not in order) diarrhea, dysentery, typhoid, malaria, pneumonia, measles, chickenpox, mumps, and whooping cough. And if the diseases didn't kill them, it made their lives pretty miserable. Almost no one escaped diarrhea and dysentery, and few avoided malaria.
The 62d Pennsylvania Volunteers were employed by Charles S. Tripler, Medical Director of the Army of the Potomac, as guinea pigs in his attempt to determine an experimental drug for malaria. The experimental drug in this case was the "prophylactic use of quinineand whisky." The surgeon of the 62d was able to report that two companies who "used it faithfully for two weeks presented a sick report of only four men."
James Kerr was the regiment's Surgeon. The fact that he served the regiment for the full three year term is evidence that he was a creditable practitioner. I don't know what his medical training might have been, but the incompetent, unprofessional, drunkardly, worthless surgeons rarely lasted long, either resigning or being dismissed.
One likely reason the deaths due to disease was as low as it was in the 62d Pennsylvania was not the use of medicinal whisky, but simply because so many hailed from an urban center. City dwellers were more likely to have been previously vaccinated and would have already built up an immunity to common contagious diseases. They might have been in the habit of practicing better personal sanitation and hygiene.
The Peninsular Campaign was particularly unhealthy for soldiers. George L. Kilmer, from Company D of the 27th New York Volunteers, in a letter to Century Magazine years later seemed to cover most of the causes: "The unusual strain imposed upon the men, the malarial character of the region around Richmond, the lack of proper nourishment, the want of rest, combined with the excitement of the change of base, and the midsummer heat prostrated great numbers." Confederate General D. H. Hill commented more succinctly, "Truly, the Chickahominy swamps were fatal to the Federal forces."
Infection after a wound, treated or untreated, was as likely to cause death as the wound itself. Because bacteriology and the modern concept of germs did not exist, antiseptics were not used, and instruments, materials, and equipment were not sterilized or disinfected. However, surgeons were not totally ignorant. Doctors were well aware of the relationship between cleanliness and infection. Unfortunately, with little support for equipment or supplies, they worked under primitive conditions, worked in blood- and pus-stained coats, and washed hands, sponges, dressings, and instruments in basins of water. It became almost impossible to obtain a good supply of uncontaminated water even at the beginning of the process.
There is no record of how many volunteers from the 62d died in prison, but it could have been high. Belle Isle was the prison many captured at Gettysburg were sent to. Although it did not have the reputation of Andersonville, Belle Isle offered prisoners a daily ration of eight ounces of bread and one ounce of meat, cooked without salt. Disease was likely rampant.
The 62d does not appear to have had any more or fewer deserters than other regiments. As in the other regiments there were many reasons for desertion, and it was not necessarily a sign of cowardice. In many cases the records indicate the dates and places of desertions, and in a high percentage of cases the volunteers deserted not during battles, but in the boring times between battles, especially while in winter quarters. Many deserters returned voluntarily or were transferred to another company to serve the time, with penalty, remaining in the term of service.
In the regulations, the punishment for desertion was execution, but pardons or lesser sentences were routinely given. I know of no member of the 62d who was executed for desertion, but in one celebrated case, the 62d Pennsylvania, as part of the entire Fifth Corps, witnessed the execution of five bounty-jumper deserters. Bounty-jumping started fairly early in the war after recruits were paid bounties to enlist, and scoundrels would enlist, collect their bounty, but instead of reporting for duty, desert to enlist elsewhere under a different name. Bounty-jumping became epidemic after the draft was enacted with its system of allowing draftees to avoid serving by paying a bounty to substitutes. A month after Gettysburg, the army decided to dramatically execute some bounty-hunters as a deterrent, and took advantage of five bounty-jumpers who had signed up with the 118th Pennsylvania but were caught and arrested on 13 August 1863 when after escaping en route to they tried to recross the Potomac. Seven days later they were court-martialed and sentenced to die before a firing squad. All had previous bounty-jumping records; and, perhaps a major factor in the decision to execute them, all were foreigners. Only one had a good command of English; two were Roman Catholic, and one was a Jew. The appeal made to President Lincoln, but he was uncharacteristically unsympathetic. After one stay of execution to allow time for a priest and a rabbi to arrive, on 29 August the three divisions of the Fifth Corps formed three sides of a hollow square, while a military band played somber music. Members of the press, including an illustrator from Harper's Weekly, were among the assembly of witnesses, as well. Graves were dug. Coffins were placed beside the holes. The manacled prisoners were postioned in a sitting position on the coffins, and sixty members of the provost guard fired upon Charles Walter (aka C. Zene), a 29 year old German bookkeeper; Emil Lae (aka E. Duffie or Duffe), a 30 year old German clerk; George Kuhn (aka G Week), a 22 year old Prussian Jewish barber; John Rainese (aka Gion or George Rionese), a 23 year old Italian; and John Folaney (aka Faline or Geacinto Lerchize), a 24 year old Italian. After the weapons were inspected to see that each man had fired his weapon, and the bodies inspected, the conemned were declared dead. The band changed its tone of music, starting with "The Girl I Left Behind Me," as company by company, the regiments of the Fifth Corps paraded in columns passed the bodies and back to their camps.
Punishment for minor crimes and petty offenses were administered under the authority of the regiment's commander to avoid the time and effort of a trial or court martial. There is some evidence that discipline in the 62d was strictly administered, but that "the Boys having nothing to do [would get] up to all sorts of Devilment." When the troops were in winter quarters, there was plenty of nothing to do, and there was a guard house. While in winter quarters or on campaigns, however, embarrassment seems to have been employed as chief means of punishment. In addition to an order, mentioned above under "Sobriety," calling for the tying up of soldiers for getting drunk, other punishments cited by Shenkel included soldiers being drummed out of camp or drummed around camp wearing a barrel, having their heads shaved, or "wearing an old pair of pants and overcoat after cutting the buttons off."
There were a few more serious nefarious affairs involving either officer or privates, and much stronger punishments.
Captain Thomas Kerr was dismissed on 5 April 1863 for overcharging the Adjutant General's office in Harrisburg for reimbursement for rental paied for a room used as a recruiting office in Rimersburg. In his defense, Kerr indicated he had negotiated a smaller amount than he realized he was authorized to pay, but although he submitted a report asking for the higher figure, it was only because he had to report to duty with his company that he was unable to straighten out the matter.
Private Peter Abbott was court-martialed for being absent without leave from 16 June to 16 July 1864. Before his General Court Martial, he testified that he had been given a pass to visit his father, Private Squire Abbott of the 155th Pennsylvania Volunteers, at Corps Hospital, but had missed a boat and was then unable me to get the necessary pass to join his company at Washington. He was found guilty on 2 August 1864 and sentenced to forfeit all pay and allowance from then on and to make good the time lost by serving time in the 91st PA. He apparently caught malaria during the campaign at Petersburg. As part of the sentence, when he finally mustered out, he was dishonorably discharged. The dishonorable discharge, however, seems to have been overturned, since his wife successfully applied for a widow's pension.
By far the most interesting case of crime or misdemeaner involved Private Peter Gilner from Company F. He was arrested, tried, and sentenced to be executed, but through accident and bureaucratic ineptitude, plus some congressional pressure, his life was spared. Through the valiant research efforts of Gary Kersey, details of the general court martial and pardon by Abraham Lincoln have come to light. The incident that got him in trouble occured in September 1863 near Cedar Creek, near Culpeper, Va. This was the post-Gettysburg period when both Lee's and Meade's armies were resting and reorganizing. Except for some minor skirmishes, it was a time of idleness and a great opportunity for idle men to get into trouble. On the night in question, there was an altercation between eight drunken soldiers and two black women. Altough eight men were involved, it was Gilner alone who got into trouble. A captain saw the event and rode up to investigate the trouble, and Gilner told him to mind his own business, or he would kill him. Obviously drunk, Gilner then picked up some rocks and threw one which narrowly missed. The captain went and got help. When he returned, only Gilner remained on the scene. Once again he threatened the officer and threw a stone, but this time he hit the captain.
Gilner was tried and found guilty and sentenced to death by firing squad. He was accused of going "beyond lines past a Mrs. Brown’s house, then bloodied the mouth and nose of a black lady." The worse charge was striking the officer. That carried the death penalty. Awaiting execution, Gilner was confined with prisoners who had been found guilty of desertion. Several months later, upon General Meade's recommendation, the deserters' death sentences were commuted to confinement in the prison at Ft. Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas in the Florida Keys. At the same time, some 60 disorderly men from the 2d Maine (made famous by the story of Joshua L. Chamberlain's speech to them when they threatened mutiny instead of joining the 20th Maine just prior to the fighting on the second day at Gettysburg). Mistakenly, Gilner was shipped to Florida with these deserters and other miscreants. When it came time for his execution, Gilner could not be found. After the Meade learned that Gilner was no longer in the army, but in prison, steps were taken for him to be returned and executed. Before that happened, a member of Congress from Pittsburgh, James K. Moorhead, got involved and successfully pleaded first for a stay of execution and then for a pardon. Gilner's mother may have had an audience with Lincoln as well. Lincoln signed the pardon, and on 19 October 1864 the unexecuted portion of Private Peter Gilner's sentence was remitted and he was released from imprisonment. At some point Gilner then was transferred to the 155th P. V., and he was honorably discharged. Unfortunately, however, Gilner was denied a pension and unable to have the dishonorable discharge based on his conviction and original sentence of execution.
A New York Times article reported on 15 September 1878 that at a Company F reunion at Wildwood Grove, Castleshannon, a comrade, identified only as Patrick P., [Note, however, that there were no volunteers in the 62d whose first name was Patrick and last name began with the letter P.] after "partaking pretty freely of the refreshments," arose and confessed to having committed the crime for which Gilner had suffered. It was further reported that a committee of former officers would be formed to lay the facts before the War Department. It remains undetermined if the drunken confession had any merit or whether or not the committee actually met or made a report. Gilner tried for over 40 years to get a pension, but was always denied. As late as 1910 he filed for an invalid pension, while he was living in Ohio.
After its last engagement on the Jerusalem Plank Road near Petersburg on 21 June 1864, the regiment was employed in picket and fatigue duty, until July 3, the date of the original companies term of service expiration. Not every soldier mustered out at this time. Many who had volunteered -- those who served as substitutes, or were drafted, and had not completed three years of service, or which to extend their service beyond three years remained in the army -- transferred to other Pennsylvania regiments in the Second Brigade. Companies L and M were transferred to the 91st Pennsylvania and would not be mustered out until August 15, 1864. Others served in the 155th and remained until their individual expiration date of service. The rest of the regiment, however, were ordered to the rear. The regiment headed to Pittsburgh and, arriving there on 13 July 1864, was mustered out.
The 91st Pennsylvania regiment remained south of the James River for its duration, so the veterans from the 62d were engaged around Petersburg for their remaining month of service. I have seen no record whether the West Pennsylvanians then marched home to Pittsburgh as a unit, but that is likely.
Soldiers who had not completed their three years of service who were members from companies other than L and M (and those soldiers who wished to re-enlist as Veteran Volunteers) were transferred to the 155th Pennsylvania Volunteers. Most members of the same company of the 62d joined the same company of the 155th, but several company's ranks were filled. The 155th also spent the duration of its service south of the James River. It fought together with the 91st in the same brigade nearly all of the engagements around Petersburg, including Weldon Railroad, Five Forks, and Hatcher's Run. At Appomattox Court House the 155th claimed the distinction of having the last enlisted man killed in the fighting in Virginia, on the morning of 9 April 1865, the same day General Robert E. Lee surrendered his Army. Although the Army of the Potomac would fight no more battles, the 155th Pennsylvania regiment would not be mustered out until June 2, 1865.
Even though the war was over in all military senses, some soldiers had still not completed their service when the 155th Pennsylvania mustered out. They were then transferred to the 191st Pennsylvania. This regiment was the last Pennsylvania regiment to be formed and was organized in the field primarily from veterans. It was mustered out 28 June 1865. At last even soldiers who had not put in their full service were allowed to muster out and return home.
The federal government implemented a pension system for veterans and their widows soon after the war broke out. An 1862 statute spelled out the details of the benefits, linking them to injury or disability directly related to military service. In 1890, due to the lobbying power of veterans' organizations, significant changes were made to reward any disabled veteran who had served honorably. In 1906 old age was added as justification for a pension. The government was still providing pensions for veterans or at least their widows even by the time of the Second World War. As can be seen on this widow's pension (courtesy of Karen and Tessa Raybuck), issued to Annie Temple, wife of Lt. Samuel Temple of Company I, the "generous" monthly allowance might amount to twelve dollars a month.
In print, I have seen the regiment designated, officially and unofficially, in many different ways and variations of abbreviations: Sixty-Second Pennsylvania Volunteers, 62d Pennsylvania Volunteers, 62nd Pennsylvania Volunteers; 62 Pennsylvania; Sixty-second Regiment, Infantry, Pennsylvania Volunteers; 62d Regiment; 62nd Regiment; Sixty-second Pennsylvania Infantry; 62d Pennsylvania Infantry; 62nd Pennsylvania Infantry; Sixty-second Regiment Infantry (Pa.); 62d Regiment Infantry (Pa.); 62d Pa.; 62d Penna; 62d Penn; 62nd Pa.; 62nd Penna; 62nd Penn; 62d P. V.; 62nd P. V.; 62 P. V.
Pennsylvania was often shortened in soldiers' lingo to Pennsylvane, thus the regiment may have been referred to as the 62nd Pennsylvane.
A news account appearing in the Boston Journal, reprinted in Stories of the War Told by Soldiers edited by Edward Everett Hale (1892) provides this insight on how the soldiers might have referred to their regiment: "How will we take Richmond?" says one of the Sixty-second the other day. "Why, don't you know? The Sixty-two-th will fire, and the Ninth will charge!"
Will
Gorges, of Civil War Battleground Antiques,
kindly shared and granted me permission to use images from a photo
album once owned by John M. Watson, a private in Company D, before it
was sold at auction. Watson's portrait is to the left. Watson's album includes
portraits of comrades in Watson's own Company D, including, my grandfather's
uncle John Henderson. in addition he included a few portraits of both officers
and soldiers from other companies. Watson included a few notes on the backs
of the portraits or on the edges of the frames that held the portraits. These
notes expand on and occasionally contradict the data included about the soldiers
found in Bates' more official record. If it does nothing else, it presents
an interesting perspective on the individuals in the regiment. Since no complete nor full-length regimental history of the Sixty Second Pennsylvane has been written, the regimental histories of regiments serving with the 62d are especially valuable.
This page authored and maintained by John R. Henderson (jhenderson@ithaca.edu), Lodi, NY.
Last modified: 25 November 2008
John R. Henderson's grandfather John G. Henderson's uncle
John Henderson was a private in Company D.
URL: http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/pa62d/pa62d.html
