More to the Story of William Braden of Company B

        The Battle of Seven Pines near Richmond, VA in the spring of 1862 is one of the most overlooked yet significant fights of the Civil War. It was the closest major battle fought around Richmond, the Confederate capital, as well as the first fight between the Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac. Each side suffered at least 5,000 casualties.

       Why has Seven Pines, also known as Fair Oaks, not been given more attention by scholars? One reason is that the three-day fight ended in significant losses but no distinct winner. Another is that Seven Pines was dwarfed when compared to the series of fights called the Seven Days’ Battles  that had 36,000 total casualties the following month and resulted in the end of Union General George McClellan’s Peninsula Campaign.

     Furthermore, little of the Seven Pines battlefield has been preserved other than a few homes used as hospitals and roadside markers. The landmark Twin Houses are long gone. Today, the battle site has been replaced by the town of Sandston and a portion of the Richmond International Airport.

The 85th PA is in Casey's Division in an exposed position when the fight began. Porter,
 Franklin and Sumner are all on the opposite side of the rushing Chickahominy River. 

                                                    Map by Hal Jespersen, www.cwmaps.com

     Seven Pines nonetheless had great significance in the story of the 85th Pennsylvania. It was not only their first taste of  the conflict  (other than standing in formation during the Battle of Williamsburg a month earlier) but also for being the largest battle in which they ever participated. 

    Battle losses coupled with sicknesses that plagued McClellan’s army on their trek up the Virginia peninsula towards Richmond proved the months of May and June of 1862 to be the most devastating for the 85th in terms of combined  deaths.

       One of those in the 85th killed during the first day of the battle was 22-year old William Braden of Company B from Washington County. Braden’s company  had just been replaced on the picket line by Company D when the Confederates launched their attack in the early afternoon of May 31. The 85th PA was soon a part of two retreats in the early hours of the battle from the area around the Twin Houses. 

        We have two first-person accounts from this part of the fight that state that Braden was shot and killed while trying to assist his wounded  officer, Lieutenant George H. Hooker, from the field. Hooker survived his wound, was promoted to captain, and lived another 45 years.

From the History of the 103rd Regiment PA Volunteers p. 174

         Private Manaen Sharp, himself a member of Company B, recorded that, “Comrade Braden was helping to carry his wounded captain [Hooker, then a lieutenant] to save him from capture. Another comrade who was assisting, J.F. Speer of Canonsburg heard that sickening thud of a minie ball strike Comrade Braden, who said, ‘I am hit.’ He staggered to the road side….”

     Manaen Sharp wrote his version of the incident in a brief a tract called “Amity in the Great American Conflict” in commemoration of Memorial Day in 1903 in which he chronicled the Civil War service of local residents. Sharp owned several furniture stores in Washington County and died in 1920 at the age of 82.

       James F. Speer who completed carrying Hooker to safety following Braden’s death was later seriously wounded in the shoulder at the Battle of Second Deep Bottom in 1864 and survived. He returned home to Washington County and found work as a bricklayer and stone mason. Around the turn of the century he worked as a furniture salesman, perhaps in the employ of Manaen Sharp. Speer died in 1924 at the age of 82.

Lt. George H. Hooker

   Since Braden’s  body and those of hundreds of others on both sides were never recovered for individual  burials, Nancy Braden, William’s widow, needed the written testimony of Captain Hooker as proof of her husband’s death in order to qualify for a widow’s pension. In 1865, Hooker wrote, “I hereby certify that Wm. Braden, a private of Company B 85th Pa. Vols., was shot while assisting me from the field at the Battle of Fair Oaks, Virginia on the 31st of May, 1862. He fell severely wounded and is supposed to have died from the effects of his wound.” 

      

               Hooker a native of the section of Virginia that became West Virginia during the war, was later  promoted to captain and served as an adjutant on the staff of Colonel Joshua B. Howell. Hooker returned home to West Virginia following the war and farmed in Wayne County. He died in 1907 at the age of 66. 

       Besides his young wife, William Braden was survived by a one-year old son, George W. Braden. William Braden also served in Company B with his Nancy’s brother, brother-in-law, George Bigler.

       Compared to the other hundred or so battlefield deaths in the 85th PA regiment during the war, the story of Braden’s battlefield demise is one with many details due to the accounts of Sharp and Hooker.

      Now, because of the diligent work of Doug Carter, a former investigator with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and a Civil war enthusiast, we can add to  Braden’s story.

       Carter has always had a fascination with the actions during the Civil War in his home state. His great grandfather,  Jesse Taliaferro Carter, enlisted into the 3rd Georgia Reserves at age 17. He served as a guard at the Andersonville and Camp Lawton Prison Camps and later was wounded in the neck in December of 1864 in South Carolina 

          How did Doug Carter become involved in the story of the 85th PA? In his research, Carter, who is also a relative of former President Jimmy Carter, has identified the Georgia  soldier who felled Braden at Seven Pines.

       When I wrote my book about the 85th Pennsylvania regiment, called “Such Hard and Severe Service,” I relied heavily on primary sources; mainly the letters, diaries and memoirs of the men in the that regiment. In the early stages of the war, like for the Battle of Seven Pines, sources were relatively  abundant for review. As the war dragged on however, more soldiers were killed, sent home with illnesses, or simply completed their three-year enlistments, which reduced the number of potential  sources from about a thousand to 150 by the time of Lee’s surrender at Appomattox.

       One recent Confederate source that  came of light through the work of Mr. Carter was a letter written by Private Thomas Inglett of the 28th Georgia regiment. 

First page and cover of Thomas Inglett letter, June 10, 1862
Courtesy of Doug Carter

         It was Inglett who fired the shot that struck down Braden, a fact that Carter  discovered 150 years later. It is a rare circumstance to be able to identify a dead soldier’s shooter so long after the event, if ever.

        Ten days after the battle began, Inglett wrote a letter to his wife.  “I killed one [Yankee] and got a letter out of his pocket that was wrote to him by his wife and I will send it to you and you can read it.”

      The letter that Inglett lifted from Braden’s lifeless body was in fact not written by the Union soldier’s wife. Part of it was written by Israel Bigler and another portion was written by  his13-year old Mary Bigler, whom Inglett thought was the dead soldier's wife.  The letter never actually mentioned Braden’s surname. 

Researcher Doug Carter

    Carter purchased the Inglett letter in 2007, knowing that the Union letter in the envelope was an added bonus. 

    “I like researching,” said Carter. “I was a special agent with the G.B.I. investigating crimes and I like digging. I was determined to find out who this guy [Braden] was.”

         Carter first realized the Union letter was four pages in length. He determined that most of the letter was written by Israel Bigler, a middle-aged farmer from Washington County to “Will” and “George.” The last page was written by “Mary Bigler” to  “Will.” He next had transcribed the Bigler letter, a task not made easy by its  blood-stained nature.  Carter initially thought Will and George were both sons of Israel. Carter’s next step was to  investigate the war services and  lives of both Inglett and Braden to gain a wider knowledge of both men. 

     Inglett’s letter described his role at Seven Pines before he took the fatal shot against Braden. “I got my cap shot off of my head in the fight but I did not get hurt. Our poor boys fell all around me. James Price was killed with a canister shot before we got [with]in six hundred yards of the yankees. Sam Cawley was my file leader and he got shot down and the ball through [threw] blood all over my face and in my mouth, but they did not stop me for I was mad. Our regiment charged them twice and we made them run like dogs from their batteries.”

Portion of letter that Inglett took from Braden's body.
Courtesy of Doug Carter

      But Carter’s investigation of census records of the Israel Bigler household prior to the Civil War indicated that Bigler had no son named William. Braden, however, is listed in the 1860 federal census as a member of the Bigler household who was working as a farm laborer. Other family members were daughters Mary and Nancy who would soon marry William. From the 1850 census, Carter discovered that Israel Bigler did have a son named George Bigler, who was also a member of Company B. The census revealed that  Israel Bigler also had a daughter named Nancy, who married William Braden in 1860. 

      Carter researched military records and found George Bigler and William Braden were in the same company of the 85th PA. By combing through the original 1913 history of the regiment, he determined that Bigler and Braden were both in Company B. He also discovered George had survived the war but that William was killed at Seven Pines. This was the key discovery that indicated that Braden was the owner of the letter confiscated by Inglett.

     

Wikipedia Commons

 Thomas Inglett, meanwhile, grew up near Augusta, Georgia. He spent over three years in the Confederate army. He lost two fingers on his left hand due to a war wound during the Seven Days Battles a month after Seven Pines but recovered and continued to in his regiment

      Inglett later suffered a leg wound at the First Battle of Darbytown Road on October 7, 1864 and was sent to a Richmond hospital. Ironically, the whole of the 85th PA fought in another battle at Darbytown Road just six days after Inglett was wounded. Most of the regiment went home the next day, having completed their three-year enlistments.

     Tragically, three of Inglett’s infant daughters died while he was in the Confederate service. Inglett died in 1910 at the age of 71 and is buried in the Fort Eisenhower Cemetery in Richmond, Georgia. 

    Nearly a hundred of Inglett’s other Civil War letters can be found at the “Private Voices” website.

       Combining the accounts of Inglett, Sharp and Hooker, several questions arise from the combination of the three stories.

        The Israel Bigler letter had been written at least four months prior to Seven Pines. Why was Braden carrying it in on his person? It seems that he might have possessed a more recent letter at the time of his death.

     Next, was Braden moving  when he was shot? Inglett makes no mention in his letter that Braden was helping to carry away the wounded Hooker with another soldier. If Braden and Speer were on either side of Hooker helping to carry him away, did Inglett aim for the mass of the three men and happened to strike Braden or did he aim for Braden?

Letter from Lt. Hooker in Nancy Braden's Pension File

        Or perhaps were the three Yankees stopped to rest when Braden fell? Sharp’s letter, which may have been directly related to him by Speer,  seems to indicate that Braden was struck fatally but did not die instantly. Hooker wrote that he “presumed” that Braden died quickly from his wound. Did Speer decide that Braden was dead or mortally wounded  when he staggered to the side of the road or was not going to survive, and thus carried on alone to help Hooker? 

      Inglett at  first struck me as a bit cold-blooded in his rather casual mention to his wife that he lifted the letter from Braden’s lifeless body and chose to send it home to her as a souvenir.

         However, when one reviews Inglett’s account of the fight prior to his targeting of Braden, the context makes his action a bit more understandable. Inglett mentioned the wounding of two of his comrades, one of whom splattered blood on his [Inglett’s] face and in his mouth. Inglett notes his own hat was shot from his head. He mentions that these events enraged him and encouraged him to press forward in the fight. This strikes me an a not uncommon reaction to being in a battle in which one’s friends have fallen around you.

        Why was Braden’s body not recovered for burial? The only soldier of the approximately 25 men in the 85th PA who died from the battle who is buried in the Seven Pines National Cemetery, which was later situated in the approximate location on the 85th PA regiment’s camp, is Corporal Joseph Wilgus of Company B. That is only because Wilgus was wounded in the battle and died later. The field on which the 85th fought was soon overrun by Confederates. There was no chance at the end of the battle to return and recover bodies for burial. Another 85th PA soldier who died in the fight, Lieutenant James Reynolds of Company H. His body was left behind near the huge pile of firewood hear the Twin Houses, but his body was also not recovered for burial.

    These questions will likely never be answered. However, due to Carter’s investigative diligence, we have a more complete story of the death of one soldier, William Braden of Washington County, who was one of thousands who died at Seven Pines.

     Below are several depictions of the burial of soldiers after the Battle of Seven Pines

Post-battle photo of the Twin Houses with the seven pine trees in the background.
The foreground was said to have been used to bury 400 soldiers, perhaps including Braden. LOC

View of Seven Pines prior to the battle with the Twin Houses and 7 pine trees to the left.
 The camp of several regiments including the 85th PA can be seen in the background. LOC

Sketch of mass burials being conducted after the battle of Seven Pines.
This view is from the direction of the first Confederate attack with the
pine trees in front of the Twin Houses. LOC

Eli Crumrine Makes His Move

       

Eli Crumrine
Photograph Subject Files
American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming
Annals of Wyoming, Vol. 58, p. 13, 1986

      One effect of the Civil War, an unbelievably bloody affair,  is that it gave soldiers the opportunity to experience lands and peoples with whom they would otherwise have been unfamiliar. The men in the 85th Pennsylvania, for example, traveled across the south from Virginia to Georgia and back. If they survived, they came home more worldly (and perhaps haunted) than they otherwise would have been because of this experience.

       This made it easier for many to move soon after the end of the war, often to the West to take advantage of settling on cheap farmland in states like Indiana or Nebraska. Many 85th veterans made the move to these and other states like Iowa, Missouri, Kansas. Some ventured to Oklahoma, Texas, the Dakotas and even farther away to the west coast. They were mainly young men in their 20's or early 30's in search of economic opportunity.

       Only one member of the regiment settled in Wyoming, and he relocated there more than 20 years after the war ended. [Two other 85th soldiers had connections to Wyoming, which will be explored later in this article.]  He was Eli Crumrine, a Civil War musician from East Bethlehem, Washington County, who enlisted at age 18 into Company B. His postwar journey for the far reaches of the United States came later in life when he was 43 years old. Crumrine was an established professional in banking for 20 years in western Pennsylvania with as a wife and three young children. However, his chose to head off for Laramie in Albany County, Wyoming where he spent the last 26 years of his life. 

Boyd Crumrine
Commemorative Biographical Record
of Washington County (Chicago, 1893), p.209

         Eli was one of five Crumrines associated with the 85th PA.   All five  survived the war. The other four were his cousins; only Boyd and Bishop were brothers to each other. [Bishop was turned down trying to enlist into the 85th which was full at the time. He instead joined the 4th PA Artillery] The other cousins in the 85th were Jackson and Daniel Crumrine. Following the war, Boyd Crumrine became one of the most prominent attorneys and historians in Washington County. Bishop [Topeka] and Jackson [Alton] moved to different cities in Kansas. Daniel went home to Washington County and became a farmer. Daniel lived until 1929, one of the longest living men from the regiment.

      Eli enlisted as a fife player in Company B in 1861 and eventually became part of the regimental band. On the last day of 1863, while the 85th PA was stationed on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina, some new instruments arrived and the regimental band was reorganized. Historian Luther S. Dickey wrote, " Three silver fifes, eight tenor and one bass drum arrived today for the Regimental band; the re-organized band is as follows : Sergt. Samuel Woods, Company E, and Corp. Henry L. Regar, Company H, principal musicians; Robert B. Thompson, Company A, Eli Crumrine, Company B, and John Stuck, Company I, fifers; John W. Ingles, Company A, Isaiah Jordan, Company D, Daniel Swan and James McCuen, Company F, drummers." [p. 303] 

Civil War Fife Player  LOC

        Music was important in the daily life of most regiments. Any early contribution of the 85th musicians, however, was nearly catastrophic. It almost provoked a confrontation with fellow Union troops at Fort Lincoln near Washington, D.C., in late 1861. As described by Private Milton McJunkin of Company D, "“as we passed Fort Lincoln on our way to camp Casey we came very near being cut to pieces by our own men...right opposite Fort Lincoln was a very pretty place to rest and the officers [of the 85th] told the drummers to give the boys the long roll which is invariably to arms[.] it was not 2 seconds until we had 4 pieces of artillery leveled on us, and our colors was all that saved us from being tore all to smash[.]” [The Bloody 85th by Patrick Schroeder, Ronn Palm and Richard Sauers, 2000, p.9]

      The soldiers in Fort Lincoln, hearing what they thought was an attack cadence, nearly mistook the 85th for Confederates. From then on, the music provided by the musicians of the 85th conformed to military standards. 

         Besides sounding out camp orders, musicians also performed impromptu concerts in camp. [A list of Civil War marching songs can be found here.] The Kennedy Center website states that Civil War musicians could be divided into two general categories: field musicians and members of regimental bands.

     "Field musicians included the fife-and-drum corps with the marching units and the buglers that accompanied both the cavalry and the infantry. These musicians marked the activities of daily wartime life, including wake up, lights-out, roll call, and drills. The music also helped organize the movement of the troops and even conveyed combat orders to soldiers, who were trained to recognize these commands..."

      "Larger [regimental] bands performed as commanding officers inspected and addressed the troops; they would also present regular concerts and entertain soldiers in camp. The bands helped maintain morale and reinforce spirit and resolve. Musicians also did whatever was needed--staffed ambulances, tended wounded, and even fought as the war raged on."

Lemuel Thomas headstone
Hampton (VA) National Cemetery
Contributed by Ron Stewart
findagrave.com

       For one 85th musician, 24-year old Lemuel Thomas of Company C, helping wounded soldiers during the Battle of Second Deep Bottom in Virginia in August of 1864 cost him his young life. Regimental historian Luther S. Dickey wrote, "Musician Lemuel Thomas of Company C, was on duty with Surgeon [Samuel] Kurtz of the Regiment assisting in caring for the wounded. Surgeon Kurtz was standing with an arm resting against a tree when a cannon ball from a battery of the enemy ricocheted, striking the heel of his shoe and then bounded to the head of Musician Thomas, fracturing his skull from which he died the following day. Although painfully wounded by the enemy's missile Surgeon Kurtz remained on duty." [p.355]

       Most aspiring soldiers like Eli from East Bethlehem joined Company D of the 85th PA. Eli, however, joined Company B, perhaps to be with his cousin, Boyd, who hailed from Washington City. Ironically, Boyd's time in the 85th PA was brief. After being promoted to quartermaster of the entire regiment, Boyd transferred to another regiment where he spent most of the remainder of his service posted at Fort Delaware, a prison-of-war camp for Confederates and northern lawbreakers.

       The only wartime primary source we have from Eli is a letter he wrote home near the end of his three-year enlistment to a local newspaper describing camp polling numbers for the presidental election of 1864. It was the first time absentee voting was allowed. Some states like Pennsylvania allowed soldiers to vote in the field. Other states required the soldiers to return home in order to vote. Overall, the vote of soldiers was 4-1 in favor of Abraham Lincoln's re-election bid over George McClellan.

Pennsylvania soldiers voting in camp 1864
Harper's Weekly, 10-29-1864

       Eli wrote, "On yesterday, the 39th Regiment of Illinois volunteers held an election, also the 11th Maine held one and the results are a fair sample of the whole army. The 39th polled 150 votes in all; out of these 135 were for Lincoln...The 11th polled 362 votes in all; out of these 281 were for Lincoln. These results plainly show that Father Abraham will yet reside another four years at the White House. God grant that he may. The 85th will go for Old Abe." [Washington (PA) Observer and Reporter, October 26, 1864, p.2]

       So long after the war ended, why would an established middle-aged man pick up his family and move to a relatively remote part of the county? 

Albany County (Wyoming) National Bank in Laramie
Courtesy of Albany County Historical Society

       First, however, the question arises as to how the new bank in Wyoming even became aware of a cashier in Brownsville, PA. A news story helped answer that question. "His [Eli's] first employment was with the First National Bank of Brownsville, later with the Second National Bank. The capital which organized the Albany County National bank in Wyoming included men behind the Scranton banks of Pennsylvania, and hence Mr. Crumrine was made cashier of the Laramie bank upon its organization...the appointment being the occasion for his coming to [that] state." [Wyoming Semi-Weekly Tribune, February 26, 1909, p.4]

         Eli took a trip to the West in 1885, the year before he made the move permanent, presumably to visit Laramie and get a feel for his future life. He discovered a remote yet growing community with beautiful vistas and plenty of opportunities to make money. Laramie, founded in 1868 as a boisterous railroad town, was undergoing significant growth at the time of Eli's arrival, from a population of 2,600 in 1880 to 6,400 ten years later. [Laramie has grown in every decade since then and today has a population today of over 30,000.]

Old Main,  U. of Wyoming      Built in 1886    LOC

       Laramie's growth in the mid-1880's was due mainly to the completion of the Union Pacific Railroad in 1868. Prior to the railroad, Benjamin Holladay's Overland Trail for stage coaches and wagons passed through the Laramie Plains. In the late 1860's and early 1870's, Laramie was a raucous town, vexed by Native American raids, unpunished thievery and rowdy behavior. But by the time of Crumrine's arrival in Laramie in 1886,

      Jane Nelson, the president of the Albany County Historical Society, said, "Laramie was trying very hard to become a viable city. It had an opera house, three or four hotels, The Albany County Bank was its third bank and the first to have full electricity." She added that the University of Wyoming opened in 1886, further enhancing the reputation of the city.  Ms. Nelson also noted that Wyoming was forward-thinking in the area of womens' rights. Women were already allowed to serve on juries, and women's suffrage was enacted in 1869, fifty years before the passage of the 19th amendment on a national level.

        Prior to the arrival of the railroad, a former member of Company B of the 85th Pennsylvania, 28-year old Robert P. Hughes, (at that time a captain in the 18th U.S. Infantry) wrote a letter from Fort Laramie (located a hundred miles northest of the city of Laramie) in 1867 to a friend in his hometown of Canonsburg, PA. Firt Laramie was 188 miles northest of Laramie City and was founded in 1834 as a trading post. It soon became a well-known military post. Hughes enlisted in the Civil War as a private and retired in 1903 as a major general.

Robert P. Hughes
Wyoming State Archives

      "The Indians have not been able to operate much thus far since Spring, for the snow thawing in the Mountains has kept the streams so high that they have been unable to cross them without great difficulty. They have succeeded in catching a few [stage] coaches on the Overland Mail Route and also a few small parties of soldiers."

       "I am almost ashamed to be one of the actors in the scene. But our greatest battles now are with the mosquitoes and Buffalo Gnats. They come down on us at all hours and they do not use either Modern Tactics or maneuver or logistics but seem to me to move in the old Roman Style by Phalanxes and they make us scratch our heads quite seriously to determine how to flank them."

       "We have some peculiarities here. We have beautiful lightning every night, but we suffer for it in heat the next day. We have the most beautiful Sunsets I ever saw. The Sun will hide behind one of the Buttes and leave the whole western horizon a blace of fire." ["Loneliness, Sand and Sunsets: News from Ft. Laramie, August 13, 1867," Wyoming State Archives]

          After the railroad arrived, a letter from a Laramie visitor to a friend in Pennsylvania in 1878 was typical in spreading word on this up-and-coming city.

1882 Traveler's Railroad Guide

            "To my surprise, I found thousands of acres of land [in Wyoming] that are irrigated and good crops of wheat, oats and barley have been raised along this line of railroad. Left Cheyenne and soon looked down upon that vast grassy amphitheatre, the Laramie Plains...the hundreds of square miles of pasture lands and arable valleys lie in full view. 

         "In the midst of these plains and on the south side of the Laramie river is the city of the same name. It is distant from Omaha 572 miles, altitude 7,123 feet. It contains a population of 2,500 souls. The only rolling mills in operation between the Missouri River and the Pacific Coast are located here...the Union Pacific Company has also extensive machine shops and round houses here...A public school house is nearly completed...There are some very handsome buildings, blocks and private residences built of brick and some large wholesale and retail business houses. Water is conveyed to the town through iron pipes from a spring 3 miles north of town."

       "The Laramie Plains contain nearly 3,000,000 acres of winter and summer grazing lands....Over 40,000 head of stock are grazing this region...Most of the Ranchmen have from 640 to a couple thousand acres fenced...The ranch house that I am now writing from is genteel, nice and clean, three rooms carpeted and contains some nice walnut furniture. I merely state these facts for the reason that nearly all  Eastern persons that have not visited the Stock Ranches of the Laramie Plains naturally suppose that they all sleep with loaded seven-shooters under their heads, a double-barreled shotgun in each corner of the house, and are regular devils and cuthroats." [Valley Spirit, Chambersburg, PA, October 23, 1878, p.2]

        The writer of the above paragraph, Charles C. Clugston, moved to Wyoming within two years and with his business partner established a settlement near Laramie.

         Financially, the move to Wyoming in 1886 was a wise decision for Eli Crumrine. He was the Albany County Bank's cashier for eight years and was then promoted to vice-president. He was able to acquire a ranch on the outskirts of town and had other holdings. His estate was worth well over $50,000 when he passed away 24 years later.

        Crumine also played an active role in the growth of his new community. He helped arrange a donation from Andrew Carnegie 1902 to build a free county library in Albany (becoming a member of its board of trustees), was active the local Grand Army of the Republic of Union veterans and served for several terms in the Wyoming state senate. 

        Considering the 1,500 mile distance and arduous travel involved, it is noteworthy that Crumrine returned home to western Pennsylvania at least three times to attend regimental reunions, in 1890 and 1909, both in  Uniontown, and in 1910 at Rogersville, Greene County. 

1910 Reunion of the 85th PA
Rogersville, PA  Courtesy of Greene Connections

          Unfortunately, Crumrine became ill with pneumonia on his way home from the 1910 reunion and died one day after returning to Laramie. His wife, Mary, traveled to Denver and accompanied him home on the last leg of his journey. Eli was a long-time asthma sufferer, but his health had improved in the summer months, allowing him to return to Pennsylvania for the reunion. He was 67 years of age when he died. He was succeeded at the Albany County Bank by his son-in-law, Charles Spalding.

Crumrine Home
Courtesy of Albany County Historical Society

         Just a few months before his death in 1910, Crumrine received the endorsement of a newspaper back home in Washington County in case he decided to run for governor of his adopted state. "For a long time, we have heard the rumor that Hon. Eli Crumrine of this city might be one of the candidates for the nomination for governor of Wyoming before the next Republican state convention...Of course this newspaper wants the next governor of Wyoming to be a Democrat...but if there is to be a Republican, we are for the Laramie candidate first, last and all the time." [Washington (PA) Reporter, April 23, 1910, p.6]

Eli Crumrine Death Certificate

             The third member of the 85th PA regiment with a connection to Wyoming is Sergeant Marquis Lafayette "Mark" Gordon of Company G who hailed from Waynesburg in Greene County. The current governor of Wyoming is also named Mark Gordon. He is the great grandson of Marquis Lafayette Gordon.

    

Lieutenant John Wishart Acheson

 

Lieutenant John W. Acheson
The Progessive Men of the Commonwealth of PA, Vol. 1, 1900, p. 269

         Lieutenant John Wishart Acheson was an ambitious, intelligent and courageous soldier. He survived the war but died shortly afterwards at the young age of 34. Nonetheless, the accomplishments of Acheson and his brothers as a members of various Union regiments are noteworthy.

      Lieutenant John Wishart Acheson of the 85th PA was the first son of Judge Alexander Wilson Acheson, a prominent member of the Little Washington community in western Pennsylvania

Judge Alexander W. Acheson
Commemortive Biographies of Washington County 1893

       Judge  Acheson was born in Philadelphia, but his parents hailed from Washington County. Young A.W. Acheson went to college in western Pennsylvania and remained in Washington, PA ("Little Washington") until his death over seven decades later.

     Just before passing away in 1890, Judge Acheson recalled a memory from his childhood. Mr. Acheson remembered from nearly 80 years beforehand, "One of my earliest recollections was when school took a recess to see the soldiers pass through town on their return from the War of 1812. Of that band of children which gathered on the pavement, I am probably the only one now living. The company which passed was the 'Ten Mile Rangers.' A black horse, which had belonged to one of their officers who was killed at Niagara Falls [also known as Lundy's Lane], was led in front. That must of have been in the fall of 1814." [Washington Semi-Weekly Reporter, July 12, 1890, page 6]

     Military service would become a very important in the lives of Judge Acheson's children. Judge Acheson himself did not have a military career. He was admitted to the bar in 1832. He served four terms as district attorney before becoming a regional county judge in 1866 and spent 23 years on the bench. Politically he began as a Democrat, although he switched to the Republican Party in the years just prior to the Civil War. 

     Besides John, his eldest child, Judge Acheson had four other sons who served in the Union army during the Civil War. John Acheson was very ambitious for promotion during his three-plus years in the army. He knew the best way to advance was to show coolness, fortitude and leadership in battle, which he often displayed. He also seemed to have the political connections that would assure his furtherance in military.

     However, John became frustrated that his path to higher rank was proceeding slowly or maybe was blocked. This may have been due to political reasons, as Colonel Joshua B. Howell of the 85th PA was a member of a different political party. Acheson was a strong supporter of Howell early in the war but the relationship soured and John eventually transferred out. John's rise may also have been blocked for health reasons, which will be explored below. 

      However, John Acheson's patriotism, capability and bravery were above question. He came from one of the elite families of Little Washington, but he and his brothers displayed a sense of noblesse oblige regarding the war. John proved to be an effective leader while under fire. He was wounded three times, a testament to his commitment to the Union cause and to those who served under him.

     Following the war, John's life was cut short due to various addictions, including alcohol. Perhaps these dependencies came from his war service and difficulty in overcoming his physical wounds. Some soldiers also turned to the bottle out of boredom or due to the horrors of the battlefield. John's death came in 1872. This was ironic because his father was a strong advocate of the temperance movement throughout his political career.

       John Acheson graduated from Washington College (later Washington and Jefferson University) in 1857 and was a language instructor for several years before studying to become a lawyer. But he quickly enlisted a few days after Fort Sumter fell in 1861 into the 12th PA infantry for three months along with his brother, David. Their company was commanded by Colonel Norton McGiffin, who would later become the lieutenant colonel of the 85th PA. The 12th regiment, a three-month unit, saw no action at the First Battle of Bull Run in July of 1861. They were instead tasked to guard a railroad near York, Pennsylvania before disbanding. 

     While two brothers, David and Alexander "Sandie," soon joined the 140th PA, John enlisted for three years into Company A of the 85th Pennsylvania. 

      David Acheson became the captain of Company C of the 140th PA. On the second day of fighting at the Battle of Gettysburg, Captain Acheson was killed near Stoney Hill when engaged against a South Carolina regiment. His remains were later recovered after the battle and buried near the Weikert Farm. Near his gravesite, his company placed a small boulder and carved his initials, "D.A" into the stone along with "140th P.V." David Acheson was 22 years old. His body was eventually brought home and buried in Little Washington.

 

Captain David Acheson and the Gettysburg boulder marking his temporary grave
History of the 140th Regiment Pennsylvania, R.L. Stewart, 1912, P.124-5

        David Acheson was succeeded as the captain of Company C by his younger brother, Sandy. Sandy Acheson was shot in the face (but survived) at the Battle of Spotsylvania in 1864.

    

Sandy Acheson
History of the 140th PA 

Sandy became a doctor following the war, moved to Texas and died at the age of 91 in 1934.

      A fourth brother, Marcus "Mark" Acheson, was born in 1844 and enlisted into the 58th PA infantry in 1863, one day before his brother David was killed at Gettysburg. Marcus spent a few weeks in this three-month regiment and was mustered out in mid-August. 

Joseph M. Acheson
Progressive Men of PA

      A fifth son, Joseph, enlisted into Knapp's Battery in 1864 at the age of 16. He contracted malaria during his four months of service that troubled him for the rest of his life. He died at the age of 38 in Fairfield, Iowa. 

Ernest Acheson
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/ernest_acheson/400681

      Another brother, Ernest, was 10 years old when the war ended, too young for military service. Ernest later served for 14 years in the U.S. House of Representatives. 

      In 1986, librarian and local historian Jane Fulcher (1916-2005) published a collection of letters entitled "Family Letters in a Civil War Century." In her book, Ms. Fulcher, Ernest Acheson's granddaughter,  included about 20 letters written by John Acheson during the war.

[Note: All of the quotations below are from "Family Letters In a Civil War Century: Achesons, Wilsons, Brownsons, Wisharts and Others of Washington, Pa.", Jane Fulcher, Avella, PA, 1986.]

      Nine days after the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, John Acheson heeded President Lincoln's call for 75,000 volunteers and enlisted into the 12th PA. From Pittsburgh, Acheson wrote, "I cannot describe to you the excitement that exists here...the people are wild, crazy...The military spirit of our state seems thoroughly aroused. Companies of volunteers are continually passing through the city en route to Harrisburg." [Page 299]

     After his brief enlistment in the 12th PA expired, John joined Company A of the 85th PA. Part of the reason may have been Colonel Howell, who organized the 85th, was a personal friend of Judge Acheson, which John Acheson probably hoped would benefit his pathway to promotion. 

      With his younger brother David already a captain of his own company, John yearned to be an officer as well. He wrote, "I am willing and anxious to join the army if I can secure a position. I do not believe it to be my duty to enter the service for three years as a private, nor will I do it." [Page 305]

Professor Thaddeus Lowe in His Balloon
Virginia Peninsula, 1862
Library of Congress

        During the Peninsula Campaign in 1862, Lieutenant Acheson led his company in helping Professor Thaddeus Lowe launch his observation balloon near Warwick Court House in Virginia. [Author's note: I have attended two presentations on Lowe's balloon and asked the speakers if they knew of any specific regiment that is recorded for helping Lowe. Both presenters noted the 85th PA had performed this duty.]

      Despite his reservations, it does appear John Acheson joined the 85th regiment as a private. Within the next six months, though, he won a series of promotions and became a 1st lieutenant in August of 1862. He had distinguished himself at the Battle of Seven Pines in Virginia, where he led his company and received two wounds in the wrist and leg. 

       In mid-1862, he asked his father to intervene to help him secure a commission as the permanent captain of Company A due to the medical resignation of Harvey Vankirk. "I think if anyone has claims on the Colonel for the captaincy of Company A, I have. I have shared its dangers and privations and was always with them no matter what duty was to be performed. Col. Howell knows all of this, and for this reason, he promised the captaincy should be mine. His conduct in the matter is very strange."  [Page 311] John Acheson was not named captain of Company A; the position instead went to William W. Kerr.

      A year later, David Acheson was killed and another younger brother, Sandie was voted to become the captain of David's old company in the 140th PA. John, still a lieutenant, wrote the following to his father in early 1864 from Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. Once an ardent supporter of his colonel, Joshua B. Howell, John Acheson became more and more incensed at his commanding officer for preventing his advancement in the 85th.

      "I would like to get a transfer to General [Absalom] Baird in order to show Colonel Howell that my success as an officer did not depend on his toadies. This is all the triumph I want....I can serve the balance of my term as First Lieutenant cheerfully, but I do not like to see men who have little or no qualification outstrip me." 

      "I want you to fully understand that your former friendship with Colonel Howell will not weigh a feather with him. He is a weak, vain, ambitious man, and insensible to everything that does not tend directly to further his prospects for a Brigadier Generalship...I long for the opportunity to show him that however regardless he may be to my interests, I have friends at home who are just as able as he to secure my position." [Page 313]

     Execution       Harper's Weekly

    While stationed in South Carolina, John earned the ire of General Quincy Gillmore, the commander of the Department of the South, for a clerical error during the court-martial of three soldiers from the 10th Connecticut who were slated for execution due to desertion. Two of the men were hanged, but a third stayed alive because his name was misspelled on the official record of the court matial. Gillmore was most upset and blamed Acheson for the oversight.

      Acheson was perhaps a bit nonchalant in the performance of this duty because he had already accepted a position with General Absalom Baird, a division commander in the western theater who happened to hail from Little Washington. With this unit, Acheson would participate in Sherman's March to the Sea. From Jonesboro, Georgia, in 1864, where he was wounded, John wrote, "General Baird was in the thickest of the melee. This end of the Confederacy is about caved in. Atlanta is ours. I will embrace the first opportunity to write you a long letter." [Page 317]

      Once Sherman's Army captured Savannah, Georgia on the Atlantic Ocean, they headed due north through South Carolina [see map below]. Two weeks before the end of the war, John wrote, "On the South Carolina side [of Savannah], huge torpedoes [land mines] had been placed in the mud. Little injury was done by them. Two or three soldiers had their legs blown off, but that was about all. But how silly was this conduct of the chivalrous citizens of the Palmetto State! Our soldiers swore revenge and every man supplied himself with an extra bunch of matches. Day after day while marching along the road past burning dwellings, barns and out-houses, the line of march of other columns might be discerned by the dense masses of black smoke darkening the heavens on every side. South Carolina, which hitherto has suffered so little from the war, has been terribly punished for her folly and crime." [Page 320]

David A. Scott, A School History of the U.S., NYC, Am. Book Co., 1884, p.371

       John Acheson was promoted to the rank of brevet major before his military career ended. He had studied before the war to become a lawyer but turned afterwards to a medical career, earning his degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1868. He could not, however, overcome his various addictions and died just seven years after the war ended.

     Only three days before his death, his brother Sandie wrote to their mother, "I have received a letter from Sadie [Sandie's wife] stating that John is seriously ill...If you think it best, and he is willing to come [home], he must make one vow before he starts and that is 'never to touch tobacco again.' If he'll do that, the alcoholic tendency can be controlled and the opium will not be so harmful or may be broken off. But if he persists in using tobacco, he will be liable to the day of his death to fits of depression (a result of the tobacco) which he cannot control and which will compel him to resort to stimulants. His only safety lies in quitting tobacco." [Page 332]

      John Acheson is buried in the Washington Cemetery in Little Washington, PA. 

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/157037892/john-wishart-acheson

Billy the Cook

 

LOC

      During the Civil War, Colonel Joshua Blackwood Howell had several personal assistants who attended to his needs in the field. Some were military personnel, like his aide, Lieutenant George A. Edson of the First Massachusetts Cavalry. Edson was with Howell in the summer of 1863 on Morris Island, near Charleston, South Carolina, when a Confederate shell scored a direct hit on the bombproof from which Howell was directing trench-digging operations. Howell was knocked unconscious and buried under a pile of rubble. Edson immediately pulled Howell out from under the debris and took him to a hospital, thus saving his life. 

       Another attendant known only as "Sam," an African-American who served as Howell's valet during the war. It is not known how Sam and Howell met; most likely, it was during the 1862 Peninsula Campaign in Virginia when the 85th regiment met many displaced former slaves. It was Sam who led a riderless horse during Howell's military funeral procession in September of 1864.

       The following description of Howell's funeral is from Luther S. Dickey's official 1915 history of the 85th Pennsylvania.

"On the 17th, the Regiment was temporarily relieved from duty at Fort Morton, and escorted the  remains of the Colonel from the brigade hospital to division headquarters.  The ambulance that served  as a hearse was immediately followed by 'Old Charley,' led by 'Sam,'  a faithful negro servant of the  deceased. 'Old Charley'  the horse was then aged about ten years, and had accompanied the Regiment  from Camp LaFayette, Uniontown, Penna., in November, 1861. He had been presented to Col.  Howell  while he was recruiting the Regiment by Jasper Thompson, Esq.,  of Uniontown, who had been a  staunch friend and admirer of the Colonel...'Old  Charley'  [was not the] horse  that  caused the  fatal mishap; [it was] a horse that had belonged to Capt. Loomis L. Langdon, 1st  U.S.  Artillery. On account  of some infirmity of  'Charley,'  the  Colonel considered him unsafe to ride at night, and therefore had replaced him by the horse responsible for his death, and  'Sam' is the authority for the statement that this horse had a bad reputation as being vicious and tricky among the members of Capt. Langdon's battery, information he  acquired after the fatal accident. However, Capt. Langdon's  description of the horse is perhaps the  most trustworthy; that 'it was exceedingly tender-mouthed.'  Capt. Langdon was a warm friend and admirer of Col. Howell, and according to his statement, had presented the horse to the Colonel some time previous to the fatal occurrence, the latter having expressed a liking for the animal."

Colonel Joshua B. Howell
From L.S.Dickey's 1915 History of the 85th Pennsylvania

     A third personal  attendant, the subject of this article, was William C. Chism. Chism was born around 1838 or 1839 and died in 1910 at the age of 70. The historical record of his life is quite sparse, but this article intends to explore what is known about Chism and speculate about the role he played in Howell's life.

     The only reference to Chism in Dickey's history of the 85th Pennsylvania is found on page 308. The date is February 23, 1864. The regiment has just returned to Hilton Head, South Carolina from Whitemarsh Island, near Savannah Georgia. This one-day amphibious operation was to conviscate around 300 African American slaves who were building defensive positions for the Confederates in the area around Savannah.

      The expedition, led by Howell and involving parts of several other regiments, started well enough. His two groups of assaulters swept through the island but were stopped by an unknown Confederate battery that had just been built on the other side of a bridge to Oatland Island. The 85th PA became pinned down and the Confederates maintained the bridge as a possible avenue for re-enforcements.

Whitemarsh Island
February 22, 1864     Map Courtesy of Craig Swain

    Howell's forces were forced to scurry back to their transports. No one in Howell's unit was killed, athough three men (Captain John E. Michener, Corporal James Bailey and Private Eli Shellenberger) were captured. 

    This reference to Chism in Dickey's regimental history picks up the story once the men returned to Hilton Head the next day. 

"The Regiment disembarked and arrived in camp at Hilton Head at 1 a.m.; the men were immediately  dismissed and were permitted to rest in camp the entire day; it was discovered that  the Colonel's cook, William Chism, known in camp as 'Billy  the Cook,'  was missing, left on Whitemarsh Island."

      The loss of Chism through probable capture or possible desertion is curious and leads to a series of questions to which the author could find no answers.

1. Since the expedition was intended to be a one- or two-day affair, was it really necessary for Howell to bring his personal cook along? Did Chism provide other personal services to Howell other than food preparation?

2. If Chism were captured that day, what was he doing off the transport Mayflower, Howell's flagship? There doesn't appear to be any reason for him to disembark or not stay close to the ship. Howell stayed either on the boat or close to the shore during the operation. Chism was not listed as having been with Michener and the others when they were captured, so if he were in fact taken prisoner, it had to have been in a separate incident.  

3. Did Chism desert to the enemy? This seems unlikely. Chism seems to have been a lifelong resident of the North with no known ties to the Confederacy. Even if he did desert, why would be abandon a somethat cushy job of cooking Howell's meals?

Captain John E. Michener

   It should also be mentioned that in 1867, the aforementioned Captain John E. Michener, one of the three soldiers from the 85th Pennsylvania captured on White Marsh Island, wrote a brief but detailed treatise (along with author T.J. Simpson) of his war experiences called "Prison Life." Michener wrote of his own capture along with Bailey and Shellenberger on Whitemarsh Island and their subsequent moves to prisoner-of-war camps. Michener made no mention of Chism.

      There is no other found government reference to Chism's life until the 1890 Veterans Schedule, a special census of Civil War soldiers. Chism, around 50 at the time, is listed as being a member of Company C of the 85th Pennsylvania. This came from Chism himself, who may have been passing himself off as a mustered-in soldier. But no other roster of regimental members has Chism listed as being a soldier of the regiment. Of course if Chism travelled with the regiment for two years and was captured during a military engagement, he probably felt he had the right to feel he was a legitimate member of the regiment.

    The 1890 Veteran's Schedule states that Chism joined the regiment in May of 1862. Although there is no record of Chism's enlistment, this could be true. Again, this was during the Peninsula Campaign as "Sam" had probably done. Chism, who was white, was therefore in Virginia for an unknown reason. Howell and Chism could also have first crossed paths in western Pennsylvania during training camp, or in Washington, D.C. where the regiment was stationed for four months.

         The Veteran Schedule has two other interesting notations. One is that although it is stated that Chism "mustered in" to the regiment in May of 1862, there is no muster-out date listed, only that Chism's regimental records are under the heading of "papers lost." This notation is not unheard of in the Veterans Schedule. Several other former soldiers in 1890 did not have documentation, usually due to memory issues or perhaps a fire that destroyed personal records in the 25 years since the war ended.

    In Chism's case, however, it may be that he had no documentation to start with, due to his apparent role as a non-military personal assistant. Although Chism was with Howell during many battles, he likely told the examiner that he lost his papers when such papers never actually existed.

    The second interesting notation in the Veterans Schedule regarding Chism is listed as a side note. This was usually written on the line on the form in which the examiner listed any Civil War maladies that came from the soldier's war service, such as an amputation, heart troubles, etc.

    For Chism, the doctor simply wrote, "nine months in prison."

   This claim again came from Chism. It would suggest, in a very tenuous way, that he indeed was captured on Whitemarsh Island in 1864. However, I could find no record of his release anywhere among Union POW records. This may mean that he had convinced the Confederates that he was not a soldier and became more of a political prisoner. He may also have been used for his specialty -- preparing meals -- for Confederate officers or privates the way captured Union doctors were put to use by southern armies when they were confined. 

       Here is an article that appeared in a Gloucester County, New Jersey newspaper in 1885 that has some interesting claims regarding Chism's relationship with Colonel Howell.

       The 85th Pennsylvania did indeed fight at Kinston, North Carolina in December of 1862. It was during a two-week foray called the Goldsboro Expedition that a Union strike force of 12,000 soldiers attempted to disrupt the Confederate supply chain into Virginia. But if Chism were captured on Whitemarsh Island and held for nine months, he would have been released around November of 1864. Colonel Howell died as the result of a fall from his horse two months earlier in September of 1864. This raises several more questions.

1. If Chism were accurate about he period of confinement, he was not with Howell when he died in September of 1864. How would he know, as the article stated, that the Colonel used the North Carolina law book as his pillow "until the time of his death."?

2. If Chism were in prison when Howell died, how would he have acquired the law book from among Howell's personal possessions, assuming they were sent back to his adopted home in Uniontown, PA to his family or to his boyhood home in New Jersey with his body for burial?

3. Would Colonel Howell have really used a law book to rest his head upon at night for over two years during the war? It seems a book would have made an exceptionally hard surface to try to sleep on. 

         In  reviewing census records, it was unusually difficult to otherwise track Chism's life. It does not appear that Chism ever married or had children. There were many William Chism's among the census records of the late 1800's, although most lived in the South. Chism was only found in the 1890 Veterans Schedule because of the reference to the 85th PA. 

          A decade later, according to the 1900 census, Chism may have been employed as a coachman for soap manufacturer Emma M. Thomson and her family in Atlantic City, New Jersey. This census, however, states that Chism and his parents were all born in Pennsylvania. The next year, he seems to appear as a gardener in a city directory for Atlantic City. 

        Chism does appear ten years later in the 1910 U.S. Census, This was also the year of his death. Chism at this time lived in Deptford, Gloucester County, New Jersey, which is only two miles from where Howell was raised in Woodbury. Howell also was buried in Woodbury. .

      In the 1910 census, it is stated both Chism and his parents were born in New Jersey. This connection could be a clue regarding Chism's employment by Howell during the war.

      [There is also a hint in the 1860 federal census that Howell and Chism may have met at the start of the war. This census, lists a 23-year old carpenter from Pittsburgh (who was born in Pennsylvania) named William Chism. At least one company of men trained in the Pittsburgh area before joining the 85th Pennsylvania at their base camp in Uniontown, Fayette County. This could be the connection between Chism and the 85th regiment.]

      Under occupation in the 1910 census, it is stated that that elderly Chism was a military veteran living on his own and was a "private pensioner." Could Chism have been granted a personal endowment by the Howell family for his loyal service during the Civil War? Did the Howell family employ Chism after the war, since he at least in his final years lived near the Howell family in New Jersey?

      The author was looking forward to answering some of these questions when he began this enquiry. But his investigation has only led to more questions. If Chism were a loyal servant who was captured by the Confederates while serving his mentor during the Civil War and was rewarded for it with a "personal pension" from the Howell family after the war, it would have been nice to find confirmation of such a relationship. 

     Here is a picture of Chism's headstone in the Almonesson United Methodist Church Cemetery in Gloucester County, New Jersey.