62d Pennsylvania Volunteers an American Civil War Infantry Regiment Regimental History and Company Rosters, Corrected and Enhanced

The soldiers of the 62d Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment were brave, gallant, loyal, and well disciplined. While still in training they were honored as one of the two best drilled regiments in the Army of the Potomac. Military historian William F. Fox, writing in the late 1880s, included the 62d Pennsylvania among the top 300 Union fighting regiments. During their three years of fighting in the Civil War, however, they achieved no special glory, nor lasting fame, nor particular distinction. They experienced both victories and defeats, but never did an action of the 62d Pennsylvania create a decisive moment or a turning point in battle. They gained ground, held ground, lost ground, even fled in retreat. They suffered severe casualties, particularly at Gaines Mills, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, The Wilderness, and Laurel Hill (their name for the fight within the battle of Spottsylvania Courthouse). They marched; they waited; they carried out orders. Twice, at the Second Battle of Bull Run and at Gettysburg, orders they followed in battle were so controversial that the commanders giving them were either courtmartialed or pressured to resign. The 62d's three-year term ended months before the satisfaction of a final Union victory. They were typical, imperfect soldiers. Among them were the dashingly dauntless as well as the stragglers, skedadlers, and shirkers. In that ordinary way, the volunteers of the 62d Pennsylvania became heroes.

Regimental History
Recruitment	Demographics	Organization	Best Drilled Regiment
Regimental Band	Taps	Defending Washington	Campaigns and Battles
Casualties: Summary, Detailed Report		Disease & Desertion	Mustering Out
Company Rosters
Field and Staff Officers, Company Musicians & Unassigned Soldiers	Pittsburgh: F and L	Allegheny County: A, B, G, K, and H	Other counties: D (Armstrong); C and E (Clarion); I (Jefferson); M (Blair)
Alphabetical Listing of All Volunteers, with links to their Companies
Sources
Out-line Field History of the Sixty-second Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers (Col. J. B. Sweitzer) from the time it entered the service up to the 1st day of August 1863
Bibliographic Sources	Regimental Histories	Other Civil War Web Sources	Historical and Reenactment Groups

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 may otherwise help the investigation and the return of the materials to the the Museum, please contact:

Officer Timothy Anderson Marysville Police Department Marysville, KS 66508 (785)562-2343 marysvillepd@charter.net

Company Rosters

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 a few other sources. 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.

A:	Federal Guards	Allegheny County
B:	McKee Rifle Cadets	Allegheny County, principally McKeesport (they were also known as the McKeesport Guards)
C:	Lyon Guards	Clarion County
D:	Finlay Cadets	Armstrong County, with several Indiana County residents included
E:	Rimersburg Raiders	Clarion County
F:	Eighth Ward Guards, A	Pittsburgh
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
K:	Eighth Ward Guards, B	Allegheny and Washington Counties
L:	Chambers Zouaves	Pittsburgh
M:	Blair Guards	Blair County

Recruitment

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 Nebraska, 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 33rd. The enumeration problem stemmed from the authority Black received to recruit. He initially gained federal authority, but lacked state authority to muster in a regiment of Pennsylvania volunteers. It took several months before issue was resolved.

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. The Eighth Ward Guards (also known as the Eighth Ward Rifles) became Company F. Because it was so large some of its members made up a good part of Company K as well. The Federal Guards and the St. Clair Guards became Companies A and H. Many boys and men had been swept up with military fervor even before the election of Abraham Lincoln and joined these groups. Their number and ranks greatly expanded after August 1860, when Elmer Elsworth's Chicago Zouaves, a precision military drill company with exotically gaudy uniforms, visited Pittsburgh. 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). By late April, over 45 military groups existed in Allegheny County. Only 20 of them, however, were armed with so much as old flintlock muskets, and fewer had uniforms. The federal government was concerned about the quality of these troops and its ability to train and equip them, so it set strict quotas on the number of regiments each state could form. In Pennsylvania, the quota was filled in less than a week. Only six Allegheny County companies were able to join the three-month regiments then created. The governor and others in the state campaigned to allow the quotas to be overfilled, but their efforts were turned down. The military organizations, however, did not disband. Instead they continued as Home Guard units as best they could with limited resources and only private funding. I do not know the origin of the company names other than those with geographical appellations, but some may reflect the name of 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:

VOLUNTEERS WANTED for SCOTT LEGION Regiment Col. S. W. Black Late Col. of 1st Penn. Reg., Mexican War. This regiment is accepted by the Secretary of War. TO BE MUSTERED IN IMMEDIATELY Head quarters, Old Pennsylvania Bank, Second Street, above Walnut.

(NOTE: The Scott Legion was an association of Mexican War veterans that served both as a militia group and a fraternal organization. Its veteran soldiers continued to practice military drills in uniform to stand ready to serve the nation again. It also provided aid to its members and their families, such as providing proper military honors at the time of a member's death. Sam Black (and perhaps other officers) had served under General Winfield Scott during the Mexican War. General Scott, nicknamed "Old Fuss and Feathers," was the titular commander of the Union army at the time the 62d Pennsylvania was recruited. Two other Pennsylvania regiments, the 20th and 68th, both recruited in Philadelphia and its surrounding counties, also used "Scott Legion" as a nickname. The Standard History of Pittsburgh calls the 62d regiment "the Scott Legion (No. 2)."

Many, and probably most, of the 62d Pennsylvania volunteers did not come from Home Guard units. They 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.

Patriotic feelings 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.

Demographics

The regiment appears to be unusually heterogeneous -- for its time, at least. Most of the companies of the 62d Pennsylvania Volunteers were recruited in Pittsburgh or elsewhere in Allegheny County, but other companies hailed from the surrounding rural counties. A sizeable number came from Ohio. City dwellers 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 iron workers ("puddler" is my favorite specific title), glass blowers and other glass workers, boatmen and rivermen. Farmers, miners and lumbermen were the most common occupations of the rural counties, but a considerable number of farmers and miners lived in Allegheny County as well. Other occupations included laborers, blacksmiths, teamsters and wagoners, both brick makers and brick layers, carpenters, clerks, merchants. In addition to many shoemakers and boat builders were a cigar maker, a watchmaker, a whip maker, an axe maker, an axe varnisher, and a wagon maker. From different counties came an axe maker and an axe polisher. Many in the regiment were school boys, and there were a few law students and several teachers. There was one artist and one gentleman. At least one doctor volunteered not as a surgeon but a simple private. If any were unemployed, the records do not so indicate.

Colonel Black was joined by other lawyers and aspiring politicians and other professionals among the ranks of the officers. 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. 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 was at least one father and son in the same company. Sergeant William Hagerson signed up with his son Asa to join Company D. I suspect. but cannot confirm that Corporal Wesley K. Dillon was the son of Reuben Dillon a private. Both were also in Company D. Wesley was only 15 when he joined. 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." I have looked up less than half of the volunteers in the Civil War Veterans' Card File, 1861-1866, so I may find someone even older, or there may have been someone older, and we may never know.

Organization

Ten companies were mustered into service on 24 July 1861, for three years. Companies L and M were added before 31 August when the regiment was officially organized and designated as the Pennsylvania 33rd Independent Regiment. On that day the newly organized regiment started its march to Washington, D.C. Because of a controversy concerning whether the officers were empowered to recruit by state or by national authority, the regiment was not officially organized as the Pennsylvania 62d Infantry Volunteers until 19 November 1861.

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

.

On 24 July 1861, the regiment moved from Pittsburgh to Camp Cameron, near Harrisburg, then after only a few weeks 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 Best Drilled Regiment in the Army of the Potomac

Descriptions of the beginnings of many Civil War volunteer military units typically mention how a ragtag bunch of citizens-now-soldiers are slowly molded into a crack regiment by unprepared officers who themselves have to learn discipline. Under Colonel Black, however, the volunteers of the 62d apparently excelled in drill and discipline from the beginning. Since many of the volunteers appear to have been members of existing Home Guard units that trained as precision military drill companies, they had a headstart and were eager to continue. The parade ground in front of the camp was tramped "as hard as the alley ball court" according to one account. Their efforts paid off in their winning a contest held within the Army of the Potomac for the best drilled regiment.

 

"On two or three occasions," the Out-line Field History of the Sixty-second Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers reports concerning the regiment's earliest days around Alexandria, Va., "the Regiment formed a line of battle, and promptness with which the men obeyed every order, their eagerness to be well drilled caused Col. Black's heart to swell with pride and from the very first he entertained the greatest confidence in the men comprising the regiment." The report further boasts that during the first Fall and Winter, when the regiment began to be drilled, disciplined, and prepared for active field operations in earnest, the Colonel had as his ambition to create "the best disciplined and the most efficient in drill of any in the Brigade." His labors were more than duly rewarded. In 1861 the French government presented to the U.S. government two complete sets of uniforms made of very heavy material in a Chasseur pattern, enough for two regiments. The uniforms have been incorrectly reported in some accounts as Zouave, but "Chasseur de Vincennes" was the name of this French-style uniform. A contest was created to present the "French uniforms and camp and garrison equippage of that nation complete," including "large round French tents" to the two best drilled regiments in the Army of the Potomac. The 62d Pennsylvania Volunteers and the 83d Pennsylvania Volunteers, commanded by Colonel John W. McLain and recruited principally in Erie County, secured the outfits.

 

A description of the uniform was provided in a newspaper article (source unknown) included with a packet of letters written by James L. Graham, a member of Company H: "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." The portrait of Sam Temple to the right shows well how baggy the pants actually were. 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 Chasseur was not a Zouave uniform, the more familiar fancy French uniform. The Zouave style was stylishly modified from the French Algerian uniform. The Chasseur uniforms, still gaudy, were based on the French light rifleman uniform. 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. They were sent back to Washington with the extra baggage in January 1862. The regiment returned to their old sky-blue uniforms, with low shoes, leather gaiters and leather leggings up to the knee. A description of the complete Chasseur -- or French M1860 light infantry --uniform awarded to those two regiments is recorded in the History of the 83d Pennsylvania. One of the Graham letters also provides a description of the tents. They were made of linen and designed to hold 16 men, circular, 18 feet in diameter, with a center pole. In the interior, around the pole, was a rack for their weapons. The 62d was further rewarded, perhaps more beneficially, by being re-armed so that the entire regiment was now issued the improved Springfield rifles.

NOTE: The double portrait of two unidentified soldiers illustrates the Chasseur uniforms. The volunteers 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 and Erie, where most of the volunteers of each regiment were recruited. 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.

William Withers, Jr., and the Regimental Band

There is little record of a regimental band attached to the 62d. When regiments were forming at the beginning of the war, each was required to have one. The musicians were specifically non-combatants, and their primary duty of the regimental band was to provide music during marches and ceremonies. Especially early in the war and for regiments stationed in defense of cities, they often traveled apart from their regiments to play concerts and serenades. The regimental band, made up mostly of brass instruments, was distinct from the field musicians which was made up, ideally, of a drummer and fifer from each company, as well as a bugler. They played during marches and could be used to coordinate field maneuvers. During a battle, both groups of musicians formed the ambulance corps, and under command of the surgeon served as stretcher bearers and tended to the wounded.

 

Thanks to the research of John Bieniarz of the 12th NHV Serenade Band, some information about the 62d's regimental band has come to light. William Withers, Jr., bandmaster, and the former 12th N.G.S.N.Y. regimental band entered into service as the bandmaster of the 62d while the regiment was stationed around Washington, DC. In the band were Withers' father and several brothers. They were available because the three months national guard regiment that had just mustered out. Before the war, the band had been well established in New York State as Withers Brass Band. While in the Washington, DC, areas they honored their New York State origins with the name the Withers Excelsior Band. In mid-1861, when the 62d was forming, competition to enlist regimental bands had become fierce. Colonels vied with each other to secure the services of good bands for their regiments, and it is quite possible that Colonel Black outbid other regiments for the Withers band. If or why there was no regimental band attached to the 62d before they reached Washington is not known. The Pittsburgh area was rich in brass bands.

 

By 1862, as the realities of war had set in, both militarily and economically, regimental bands were abolished through General Order No. 151 from the War Department. Most regimental bands mustered out as a whole, and only in cases where band members had also enlisted in a company did they remain in the regiment. There is plenty of evidence, however, that many regimental bands continued in an unofficial capacity, paid for by the officers or other benefactors, not by the government. However, there is no evidence that the Withers band remained with the 62d. William Withers, Jr., became famous for one thing later in the war. He was the orchestra leader at Ford's Theater the night Lincoln was shot. When Withers chased after the assassin, John Wilkes Booth turned and stabbed at Withers, cutting two large gashes in his coat. After 1862, the company musicians continued as each regiment's fife and drum corps.

One More Musical Digression

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, which Butterfield disliked.

Defending Washington, DC

In addition to military training and drilling, the regiment spent as much or more time in construction. They built roads, threw up earthworks, dug entrenchments, and cut away pine forests beyond Arlington Heights. During their three years of service, much more of their time would be spent in throwing up breastworks and digging trenches than in fighting. An axe and spade would be as coveted as a gun. Here is how General Wm. T. Sherman described the work: "These field entrenchment's are peculiar to America, though I am convinced they were employed by the Romans in Gaul in the days of Caesar. Troops, halting for the night or for battle, faced the emery; moved forward to ground with a good outlook to the front; stacked arms; gathered logs, stumps, fence-rails, anything which would stop a bullet; piled these to their front, and digging a ditch behind, threw the dirt forward, and made a parapet which covered their persons as perfectly as a granite wall."

 

Finally on 28 September Porter's division received orders to clear the area of Northern Virginia near Washington from Rebel forces. The Confederates put up little resistance beyond skirmishing, and the 62d was not in an advanced position and the result of the movement for them was simply that regiment's camp was moved to the outskirts of Fall's Church. The 62d's brigade occupied a station on the Alexandria, Loudon and Hampshire Railroad. They stayed there only a few weeks before they moved once again. In mid-October they went to winter's quarters in Camp Bettie Black (named after the colonel's youngest daughter) on Minor's Hill, an eminence (elevation 454 feet) just outside the western corner of the District of Columbia, just outside Falls Church, Virginia. Only after they went to winter quarters did the military drilling proceed in earnest with discipline rigidly enforced. The camp routine was squad drill from 6 to 9 in the morning; then from 10 to noon, each company had its own drill. After an hour off for lunch, for the next four hours until 5 p.m., there was battalion drill. In the evenings officers received their own further training.

 

Drilling, review, and inspection continued until spring. General George McClellan, the chief of the army following Bull Run (until his command was reduced specifically to the Army of the Potomac), spent many months improving the fortifications around Washington, bringing order and professionalism to the army, planning campaigns, waiting for spring weather, and battling the President's advisers. As a result, the army took no action until reports were received that the Confederate Army had evacuated Manassas on 8 March. On 10 March 1862, almost eight months after they were mustered in, the regiment finally moved out.

 

Winter camp at Minor's Hill brought the 62d a taste of conditions they would have to face for the next three years. The climate was milder than Pennsylvanians were used to, but living in tents, the volunteers learned of cold nights. There was some snow and much rain, and the rain brought much mud by mid-January. In a nearby camp, this complaint was sounded, "Owing to the mud Blockade, we are still in our old camp. The 'Sacred Soil' is in the most profane condition. Did you ever notice a fly endeavoring to walk through a dish of molasses? If you did, you can form some idea of our abortive atempts to wade!"

State Colors

It would have been while at Camp Bettie Black, that the regiment and most of the companies were presented with their banners and battle flags. The state colors were presented to the regiment on 21 December 1861 by Senator Edgar Cowan. This flag had been manufactured by a Philadelphia firm, Evans and Hassall. An image of the state colors flag located on the Pennsylvania Capitol Preservation Committee reveals that slightly less than half of the flag still survives. As part of the ceremony, Colonel Black accepted the colors and dedicated himself and his regiment "to the service of the country, the defense and vindication of its flag, the restortation of the Constitution in all its power, and preservation and perpetuity of the American Union in in every part of its wide and great dominion." [From Saurs, Advance the Colors] At least one company flag was preserved and is kept by the Captain Thomas Espy Grand Army of the Republic Post #153. A letter from William Hagerson indicates that the flag of Company D received 47 bullet holes through it within a little more than a year. The sergeant, returning to the regiment in the February of 1863, wrote that when he looked at it "a thrill of Patriotism runs through me."

 

Campaigns and Battles

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, 1863. 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.

Camp near Fort Corcoran, Defenses of Washington, D.C. till October 1861 and near Fall's Church, Va., till March 1862.

Reconnaissance at Manassas, 10 - 12 March 1862.

The first military action of the Pennsylvania 62d was a reconnaissance mission. The preparations for battle would be repeated many times over. The 62d broke camp early in the morning, received three days cooked rations, and moved out. Porter's Division was sent to explore Manassas to confirm the reports that the Confederates had abandoned it. The Second Brigade proceeded to Fairfax Court House in a difficult march over muddy roads cut up by the artillery and cavalry that led the march. Fortunately for the tired soldiers, Fairfax Court House had been abandoned, so there was no engagement. Porter's division was sent the next day to Centreville and discovered that the Rebel works there, too, had been abandoned. The division remained in the advanced position for six days near where the First Battle of Bull Run had been fought. Orders were then received to move back to Minor's Hill and Camp Bettie Black, near Alexandria. On the march home the troops endured torrential rain and floods. This would not be the last time such difficult and unpleasant marches would be undertaken. The 62d regiment remained only a short while before it was loaded on a steamer and transported to Fortress Monroe to start the Peninsular campaign. For the transport of the entire Army of the Potomac from Washington to the peninsula, all manner of the steamships and other vessels were commandeered. Some were large and comfortable, others were crowded and barely sea-worthy. I haven't seen the name or description of the ship that transported the 62d.

 

Peninsular Campaign

Moved to the Peninsula March 22-24.

Reconnaissance at Big Bethel, 27 March 1862. MORE

The Siege at Yorktown, from 3 April to 4 May, 1862.

The first soldier killed in action, Adam W. Musser, at Howard's Mills, near Cockletown. At the end of the siege, 4 companies of 62d were part of the small force that took possession of Yorktown. MORE

Battle at Hanover Court House, on 27 May 1862.

The first major battle. MORE

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.

The 62d suffered more casualties here than anywhere other than Gettysburg. The 62d lost two commanders, one killed, the other wounded and captured. Colonel Black was killed leading a charge early in the battle, and Lieutenant-Colonel Sweitzer was wounded and captured toward the end of the day. Never again would the regiment have so many (75) captured as in this battle. MORE

Battle at Malvern Hill, on 1 and 2 July 1862; last of the Seven Days' Battles.

Perhaps the 62d's finest hour. They were gallant, steadfast, in the center of the action, and successful in repelling the best of General Lee's regiments. MORE

 

Campaigns in Northern Virginia and Maryland

Second Battle at Bull Run, also known as Second Manassas, on 29 and 30 August 1862.

The 62d was present, but, quite controversially, for most of the battle, its division was not actively present. MORE

Battle at Antietam, also known as Sharpsburg, on 17 September 1862.

Held in reserve in the center of the line. According to the Pennsylvania Antietam Battlefield Memorial Commission, the 62d were sent into action as part of Griffin's brigade to support some batteries, but while en route were halted by General McClellan personally, and except for some artillery fire, were not engaged.

Engagement at Shepherdstown Ford, 19 September 1862.

The 62d saw more action in the maneuvers following Antietam than it did during the battle.

Blackford's Ford, 19 September 1862.

Reconnaissance to Smithfield, 16-17 October 1862.

 

Campaign on the Rappahannock

Battle at Fredericksburg, from 13 to 16 December 1862.

One of the 62d's most horrific battle experiences pinned down on an open field before an impenetrable wall. MORE

The Mud March, 20-24 January 1863. MORE

Battle at Chancellorsville from 30 April 1863 to 3 May 1863.

The 62d was in the clash that actually started the battle, but it saw little action after the first day. MORE

 

Gettysburg Campaign

Engagement at Kelly's Ford, on 11 June 1863.

Following the retreat at Chancellorsville and the recrossing of the Rapidan River, the 62d Pennsylvania Infantry was ordered to guard Kelly's Ford. While encamped here, the 62d was attacked by guerrillas, and two soldiers, including the mail carrier for the brigade, were captured.

Engagements at Upperville, Virginia, also known as Middleburg, on 19, 21, and 22 June 1863.

An engagement on the way to Gettysburg in which the 62d fought in support of a cavalry regiment. MORE

Battle at Gettysburg on 2 July 1863.

The 62d fought on the second day in the area around the Wheatfield. The regiment lost more soldiers in this battle than in any other. After several days of almost continuous marching, the Fifth Corps arrived on the battlefield in the morning, but didn't enter the fight until after 4 p. m. The volunteers of the 62d advanced across the Wheatfield; held their position successfully; were ordered to fall back; withdrew in good order across the Wheatfield; were ordered to advance across the Wheatfield with another division; they advanced across the Wheatfield; they were surrounded; in brutal hand-to-hand fighting and with many casualties, they fought their way to safety across the Wheatfield for the last time to a position near the base of Little Round Top. MORE

Pursuit of Lee, 5-24 July 1863.

Duty on line of the Rappahannock until October.

 

Bristoe and Mine Run Campaigns

Battle at Bristoe Station, 14 October.

While the Fifth Corps was fording the Broad Run near Manassas Junction, Confederates attacked, but were diverted by a counter attack by the Second Corps. After crossing the river the Fifth Corps quickly moved further north, its commanding general apparently unaware a battle to his rear was raging. By the time the Fifth Corps turned around, the Second Corps had already driven off the Confederate forces. The 62d Pennsylvania did little more than march and wait during this battle.

Engagement at Rappahannock Station on 7 November 1863

The engagement at Rappahannock Station was basically the successful crossing of the Rappahannock by the Fifth and Sixth Corps in the face of the enemy. The 62d Pennsylvania was held in reserve and suffered no casualties.

Battle at Mine Run, Virginia on 27 November 1863

The Battle at Mine Run was an aborted attempt by Meade to attack the right flank before winter ended the campaign. There was no major attack, but before the troops were withdrawn, seven soldiers of the 62d were wounded.

Duty at Bealeton Station until May 1864.

 

Overland Campaign (From the Rapidan to the James)

Battle in The Wilderness, on 5 through 8 May 1864.

The Wilderness was the first battle fought after U. S. Grant was elevated to command all the armies of the United States.

In what was certainly the worst landscape for a battle, thick woods and underbrush, cut only by narrow roads, the 62d was involved in the conflict on the opening day of the battle and in advances made on two other days. Little was gained. The 62d was more fortunate than many other regiments in the Fifth Corps, although more than 50 of its volunteers were wounded, many of those fatally wounded. MORE

Battle at Spottsylvania Court House, on 8 to 15 May 1864

For the Fifth Corps the battle centered on Laurel Hill, several miles from Spottsyvania Court House. It began with an exhausting all night march. For the next several days orders were repeated to move against the enemy regardless of the consequences, even after it was proven that charges against the large, well entrenched Confederate force would be suicidal. The 62d Pennsylvania were most savagely engaged on the 8th and the 12th. The 62d suffered its third highest number of casualties in this eight days' battle and lost its commander Lieutenant-Colonel James C. Hull on 12 May. MORE

Battle at North Anna River, on 23 and 25 May 1864

Having crossed the North Anna at Jericho Ford in the afternoon, Griffin's Division of the Fifth Corps were settling in the night, when their evening meal preparations were interrupted by a surprise attack. Although surprised and trapped between the river and the enemy, the division were able to repulse the attack. For a "minor skirmish" the battle at North Anna was costly for the 62d. MORE

Engagements at Pamunkey Creek and Totopotomoy Creek, on 28, 29, 30 May 1864

The Fifth Corp crossed the Pamunkey Creek at Dabney's Ferry, crossing on a pontoon bridge, on the 28th, marched three miles on the 29th, encountering rebel pickets. A line of battle was formed, but no encounter with the enemy ensued. On the 30th, the brigade started out on the road to Shady Grove Church. The 22d Massachusetts and 4th Michigan were sent out as skirmishers. They encountered the rebels and drove them into a clearing, only to discover they had fallen into a trap. They now faced two lines of breastworks at right angles, so they were caught in a cross-fire. These regiments were able to hold on and then drive the rebels back. The 62d Pennsylvania and 32d Massachusetts then joined the line of battle to relieve them. The 62d suffered no casualties in this engagement until the morning of the 30th. Griffith's Division was ordered to drive some skirmishers from the Union front. Determined resistance intensified the combat, and Sweitzer's Brigade was ordered to advance against the Confederate line of defense. After brisk fighting, the Confederates were repulsed, but the 62d suffered heavy casualties. MORE

Battle at Cold Harbor, on 3 June 1864

Fortunately the 62d was not part of hopeless and deadly 8-minute charge that saw the most deaths in the shortest period of time in the entire war. Unfortunately, it was involved in some heavy fighting near Bethesda Church, where the First Division of the Fifth Army Corp held the extreme right of a thin Union Army line. It was so far removed from the main conflict at Cold Harbor, that the action there is sometimes listed as a separate battle. Cold Harbor was the only battle that U. S. Grant's said he regretted. He said "Cold Harbor is, I think, the only battle I ever fought that I would not fight over again under the circumstances." MORE

 

Richmond-Petersburg Campaign

Battle at Petersburg, on 16-21 June 1864

The regiment last saw action during the Battle at Petersburg, Virginia, but the action it saw occurred before the siege began. The regiment crossed the James River on the 16th of June, and on the 18th it was hotly engaged near Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad in a contest for its possession. The enemy was driven and the brigade advanced. On the 21st, the 62d participated in its last engagement on the Jerusalem Plank Road.

Continued as part of siege of Petersburg until July 3. Left front July 3.

Casualties

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.

Disease

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.

Desertion

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.

Mustering Out

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.

Pensions

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.

What's in a name?

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!"

Sources

Resources with Information Specific to the 62d Pennsylvania.

The Out-line Field History of the Sixty-second Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers (Col. J. B. Sweitzer) from the time it entered the service up to the 1st day of August 1863.

Thanks to Mimi Reed, of State College, a descendant of Col. J. B. Sweitzer, for this unique source. It is a hand-written, fifty page account, that both marvelously detailed and, unfortunately, incomplete. I do not know the author. The only clue is the statement at the beginning, "Compliments of A. D. Barr, Charlestown, W. Va. Oct. 1. 1903." There was only two Barrs in the regiment. Robert T. Barr was a corporal in Company E who died at Spottsylvania Court House, and Thomas Barr was a private in Company E who was discharged, 30 July 1862. I have not been able to locate any fuller length regimental history. The Library of Congress, which may have as complete a collection of regimental histories as any library, has no record of one.

Bates, Samuel Penniman. History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-5. 5 Volumes. Harrisburg: B. Singerly, state printer, 1869-71.

Source for all company rosters. This multi-volume work includes histories and company rosters of all the Pennsylvania Volunteer Regiments. Bates was a member of the Historical Society of Pennyslvania, and the work was commissioned by an act of the Pennsylvania State Legislature. -- The copy I first saw was a reprint edition (Wilmington, NC: Broadfoot, 1993). It isnow available online through University of Michigan's Making of America series. The summary history of the regiment, as transcribed by David McKee, is available through the PARoots Pennsylvania in the Civil War site. Steve Maczuga, Population Research Institute at Penn State, has created a searchable database using information from Bates, including subsets in many categories, such as casualties by battle, names of deserters, draftees, and additional information.

Digital Archives of the State of Pennsylvania. Civil War Veterans' Card File, 1861-1866.

The card file originally designed as an indexing tool for Samuel P. Bates' History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, but was expanded to include information found in the original roll records. Content and completeness of each card varies, but the basic information includes company, regiment, branch, mustering in and out dates, and rank, plus descriptive information such as hair and eye color, age at enrollment, occupation, and residence. The remarks field is usually empty, but may include desertion/death dates, cause of death, dates of promotion, and other spellings of the name. Much information found here is unavailable in Bates' History or other sources I have seen.

Dyer, Frederick H. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, Compiled and Arranged from Official Records. Des Moines: Dyer, 1908.

Includes concise authoritative regimental histories -- available online in PDF format through the Tufts University's Perseus Project. Information based on Dyer's work is also available from the Civil War Archive's regimental histories

Evans, Samuel M., editor. Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, in the war for the suppression of the rebellion, 1861-1865 : roll of honor, defenders of the flag, attack on Fort Sumter, S.C., April 12, 1861, surrender at Appomattox, Va., April 9, 1865. Pittsburgh: 1924.

An alternative source to Bates for the names of soldiers from the regiment. -- available online through the Historic Pittsburgh Full Text Collection.

Killikelly, Sarah H. The history of Pittsburgh: its rise and progress. Pittsburgh: B.C. & Gordon Montgomery Co., 1906.

In the section "Records of Four Wars" details about the early war fever and formation, first, of Home Guard and reserve companies and, then, of regiments of volunteers is well documented. -- available online through the Historic Pittsburgh Full Text Collection.

Pennsylvania at Gettysburg: Ceremonies at the Dedication of the Monuments Erected by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Harrisburg: 1893. 3 volumes

Included is the address delivered by Captain William J. Patterson in 1889 at the time of the dedication of the monument to the 62d Regiment Infantry. In the address, some general history is provided, and much detail about the action of the regiment on the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg is provided. This book is the source for the image on this page of the monument at Gettysburg dedicated to the Pennsylvania 62d Infantry Regiment on September 11, 1889.

The Rebellion Record of Allegheny County, from April, 1861 to October, 1862. Pittsburg: A. A. Anderson, 1862.

Provides information about the recruitment of the regiment and the war climate of the Pittsburgh area at the time. -- available online through the Historic Pittsburgh Full Text Collection.

Spisak, Ernest D. "The 62nd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry: A forgotten regiment of distinction." The Gettysburg Magazine Issue 26 (January 22, 2002), pp. 69-93.

The article concentrates on the regiment at Gettysburg and must be the most detailed account of the regiment's activities on July 3, 1863. The article provides a good summary of the early history of the Sixty-Second as well.

Spisak, Ernie. The 62nd Pennsylvania: A very brief history (Part of the Western Pennsylvania Civil War Resources Web site maintained by James J. White.)

A shorter, earlier effort by Mr. Spisak, originally written for informal distribution at a Civil War Round Table.

The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1880-1901.

This official record is a major primary source for Civil War information. The number of documents written by the commanders of the 62d is limited, but the 62d Pennsylvania is mentioned dozens of times, in command structures, casualty lists, and battle accounts. -- Now available online through Cornell University's Making of America series and at EHistory.

Letters and Memorabilia of 62d Pennsylvania Volunteers

The Civil War photo album of John M. Watson. ALERT: ALBUM STOLEN

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.

The story of William Hays of the 62nd Pennsylvania, by his great granddaughter Carolyn Hays Raham.

Her account includes transcripts of his letters home. Part of the Western Pennsylvania Civil War Resources Web site maintained by James J. White.

Annotated Catalogue of Relics in Memorial Room, Captain Thomas Espy Grand Army of the Republic Post #153 (Captain Espy commanded Company H of the 62d).

Includes photographs of some 62d artifacts, including a company flag and a uniform, with a brief history by Bill McLaughlin. (Part of the Western Pennsylvania Civil War Resources Web site)

Civil War Veterans Tombstone Inscriptions Allegheny County Pennsylvania

Compiled by Tom & Nancy McAdams and some associates, this site provides names, death dates, cemetery and section, and other information gleaned from tombstones. The names of many soldiers from the 62d are listed on its own page, and I have incorporated some of that information here.

Brookes, Timothy R., edited by Donald McCann. "Memories of the War: Jacob Shenkel's Gettysburg Diary: The Last Shot?" Incidents of the War 2 (Fall 1987): 8-30.

This article includes a short account of the 62d Pennsylvania and the complete text of the Shenkel's diary from 15 April to 31 December 1863. It is richly illustrated and contains a story of a hoax. Shenkel, a musician from Company L, also served as a field hospital attendant and was ordered to remain in Gettysburg after the 62d Pennsylvania moved on. He remained long enough to hear Lincoln's Gettysburg address. Also in November, he records, "he went to Round Top with an artist to take some scenes of the Battlefield. Took one scene of Dead men then as skirmishers then as Picket." The photographer used the photographs he took in which Shenkel and others posed as soldiers, both dead and alive, primarily in the Devil's Den, rather than Round Top, in photographs that were passed off as real war scenes. There is a note at the end of the article that Timothy R. Brookes was planning to publish a regimental history on the 62nd, but I find no evidence that he has yet succeeded in his plans.

Curry, Jacob Pratt. "What I Saw at Gettysburg, 1863 and 1913." [Transcribed from] DuBois Morning Courier, July 14, 1913.

An account by a member of Company E on the occasion of his visit to Gettysburg on the 50th anniversary of the battle. Submitted to www.pa-roots.com by Beverley Morris.

Graham, James L. Letters. Unpublished.

James L. Graham was a private in Company H. Graham's letters have been transcribed into a typewritten manuscript of a couple hundred pages. The originals are not available.

Hagerson, William. Letters. Unpublished. March 1863

Two letters written by Sergeant William Hagerson of Company D, while he was in winter camp in March 1863.

Smith, George. " _______________ Tells a War Story." Originally published in the Marshall County News, Marysville, Kansas, submitted to the Saltsburg Press, Saltsburg, Pa., by R. B. McNeil. Date unknown.

An anecdotefeaturing Company D, parade ground dust, soup, hairy bacon, and a tall stranger who was shown kindness and returned the favor.

Smith, Isaac. Letters. Unpublished. 1861 and 1862.

Two letters written by Private Isaac Smith of Company M.

Resources for Regiments Serving Along Side the 62d Pennsylvania.

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.

Bertera, Martin, and Ken Oberholtzer. The 4th Michigan Volunteer Infantry at Gettysburg: The Battle for the Wheatfield. Dayton, OH: Morningside, 1997.

Guiney, Patrick R.. Commanding Boston's Irish Ninth: The Civil War Letters of Colonel Patrick R. Guiney, Ninth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. Edited by Christian G. Samito. New York: Fordham University Press, 1998.

Macnamara, Daniel George. The History of the Ninth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, Second Brigade, First Division, Fifth Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, June, 1861 - June, 1864. Boston: E. B. Stillings, 1899.

Under the Maltese cross, Antietam to Appomattox, the Loyal Uprising in Western Pennsylvania, 1861-1865; Campaigns 155th Pennsylvania Regiment, Narrated by the Rank and File. Pittsburg: The 155th Regimental Association, 1910. -- available online through the Historic Pittsburgh Full Text Collection.

Only in the same brigade very late in the war, the 155th P. V. was the regiment to which many volunteers of the 62d transferred after the 62d was mustered out.

Additional Sources I have Consulted in Creating this Web site

• Battles and Leaders of the Civil War: Being for the Most Part Contributions by Union and Confederate Officers; Based on the Century War Series. Reprint Edition. New York: Thomas Yoseloff, 1956. 4 volumes. -- a compilation of accounts originally appearing in Century Magazine. Battles and Leaders is available online through EHistory. Century Magazine is now available online through Cornell University's Making of America series.
  My grandfather grew up reading the Civil War accounts in the Century Magazine, and, since the magazines were never thrown away in his lifetime, continued reading them throughout his life. These articles, plus first hand accounts from his uncle John and others who participated in the war, were his first primary sources in a lifetime of civil war research.
• Billings, John D., Hardtack and Coffee, or, The Unwritten Story of Army Life. Philadelphia: Thompson, 1887.
• Boatner, Mark Mayo. The Civil War Dictionary. New York: David McKay, 1959.
• Boucher, John Newton, 1854-1933. A Century and a Half of Pittsburg and Her People. New York: Lewis Publishing, 1908. -- available online through the Historic Pittsburgh Full Text Collection.
• Mahon, John K. "Civil War Infantry Assault Tactics." Military Affairs 25 (Summer 1961): 57-68.
• Morton, J. Sterling. Illustrated History of Nebraska. Lincoln: J. North, 1907-13. [source of the picture of Col. Samuel W. Black as Nebraska governor]
• Sauers, Richard A. Advance the Colors: Pennsylvania Civil War battle flags. Harrisburg: Capital Preservation Committee, 1987.
• Swinton, William. Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac: A Critical History of Operations in Virginia Maryland and Pennsylvania from the Commencement to the Close of the War 1861-5. New York: Charles B. Richardson, 1866.
• Weitz, Mark A. "Drill, Training, and the Combat Performance of the Civil War Soldier: Dispelling the Myth of the Poor Soldier, Great Fighter." The Journal of Military History 62 (April 1998): 263-289.
• Wiley, Bell Irvin. The Life of Billy Yank: The Common Soldier of the Union. GardenCity, NY: Doubleday, 1952, 1971.
• Wilson, Erasmus, editor. Standard History of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Chicago: H.R. Cornell, 1898. -- available online through the Historic Pittsburgh Full Text Collection.

Regimental Histories and Company Rosters

• Bates, Samuel Penniman. History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-5. Volume III. Harrisburg: B. Singerly, state printer, 1869-71. . Source for histories and company rosters of all Pennsylvania regiments, this multi-volume work is available online through University of Michigan's Making of America series.
• The Civil War Archive has regimental histories, based on Dyer's Compendium of the War of the Rebellionand brief corps histories. In addition, the site includes diaries and letters.
• The National Park Service offers a Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System. You can search in several catagories, including individual soldier or regiment.
• Civil War Rosters -- Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania Volunteers of the Civil War: Regimental Rosters are two sources for company rosters from other Pennsylvania regiments.
• Ken Jones, of Tarleton University, maintains lists of Regimental or Unit Histories for the Union Army, Confederate Regiments, and naval forces.
• Cyndi's List includes sites of specific interest to genealogists, including regimental histories, pensions and military records.
• Companion regiments
In the same brigade:
• 9th Massachusetts commander Patrick Guiney
• 4th Michigan, created by a reenactment group, is a well illustrated site, complete with portraits of some of the original soldiers, plus transcipts of letters and diaries. D & L Harvey provide a short regimental history of the 4th Michigan on another site.
• 21st Pennsylvania Cavalry (182nd Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment Dismounted)
  Shared some of the same volunteers:
• 91st Pennsylvania
• 155th Pennsylvania (Under the Maltese Cross)
• 102nd Pennsylvania (Old 13th)

A Handful of Other Civil War Web Sites

• Will & Lynn Gorges' Civil War Battleground Antiques is a great place to surf, even if you don't want to bid or buy.
• The Web site of the American Battlefield Protection Program of the National Park Service and Shotgun's Home of the American Civil War are both good sources for information about battles. Neither is in-depth, but both offer good summaries.
• Civil War Interactive. Calling itself the daily newspaper of the Civil War it has everything from contests to battlefield weather reports to news stories and editorials. It also has a collection of links that are star rated.
• The National Archives is a place you will likely have to contact if you want to do a complete search for a civil war soldier. Its site explains what is likely found in different records it maintains and how you should go about requesting them.
• The History Place has a U. S. Civil War section with an illustrated timeline.

Historical and Reenactment Groups

Co D 62nd PA Infantry (Volunteer) Living Historians

A living history unit dedicated to keeping the memory of the brave men of Co D 62nd PA Infantry alive.

John T. Crawford Camp #43 and Sarah A. Crawford Auxiliary, Kittanning, Pa.

Originally founded in 1904 "to perpetuate the Memory of the Grand Army of the Republic and of the men who saved the Union," the camp and auxiliary were revived in 1990. Concentrating its efforts in Armstrong County, the group is not focused on any specific regiment.

Scott Legion Discussion Group

This online group is open to anyone interested in any of three regiments that bore the name Scott Legion: the 20th Pennsylvania, the 68th Pennsylvania, and the 62d Pennsylvania.

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This page authored and maintained by John R. Henderson (jhenderson@ithaca.edu), Lodi, NY.
Last modified: 11 June 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