Captain Lewis Watkins

 

Property of Ronn Palm Museum of Civil War Images
Gettysburg, PA

          The transcribed letter at the end of this post was written by Captain Lewis Watkins of Company E of the 85^th Pennsylvania. At the time it was written, in the summer of 1864, his regiment was stationed on the Bermuda Hundred front near Ware Bottom Church, Virginia. Watkins and his fellow western Pennsylvanians were encamped near the southern bank of the James River below Richmond and had recently provided cover during the construction of an important pontoon bridge across the river at Jones Neck. 

James River Pontoon Bridge LOC

        This bridge would enable the Army of the James to threaten Richmond several times in the next few months. [Watkins' regiment later crossed that bridge on their way to Second Deep Bottom]. Their last few days had involved low-level skirmishing along the front against the Confederate “Howlett Line” of defenses.

        Ironically, Watkins' letter appeared in the newspaper on August 17, 1864; this was the day after Watkins was severely wounded at the Battle of Second Deep Bottom near Richmond. His fate is described later in this article.

         Lewis Watkins, age 37, originally joined the regiment as a first lieutenant in Company E, led by Captain Henry A. Purviance (who was later promoted to lieutenant colonel). In a sad irony that mentioned Watkins' speculations about his future while he was laying in a hospital bed fighting for his life. Watkins was sent to Chesapeake Hospital at Fort Monroe. He died there of blood poisoning six weeks later. He was survived by his widow, Mary. They had been married for just six months and had no children.

Congressman James Kennedy Moorhead   LOC

        Watkins wrote the letter to Congressman James Kennedy Moorhead (1806-1884).  Moorhead was a Republican member of House of Representative (1859-1869) from Pittsburgh’s 22^nd Congressional district. He had earlier served as state adjutant general in 1838  After the war, he would later serve as president of the Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce for the last seven years of his life.  Prior to his career in politics, Moorhead had been involved in the Monongahela Navigation Company that built lock and dams for the navigation of the Monongahela River between Pittsburgh and Morgantown, VA (later West Virginia). Watkins mentions in his letter that his late father, Richard, lived near Lock #5 near Brownsville, Fayette County.

          In his letter, Watkins mentions the high number of Confederate deserters making their way to Union lines from nearby Confederate entrenchments. This was due to several causes:  forced marches to defend different points menaced by Union cavalry, diseases, the inability to remove sick men from the front, and lack of food.

              Watkins also spoke of his appreciation in Moorhead voting to eliminate the substitute clause of the conscription laws. This clause allowed a draftee to avoid service by making a $300 payment to the government or to higher another to take his place in the military. By mid-1864, northerners were growing weary of the war, particularly after Grant’s Overland Campaign to capture Richmond had stalled with heavy losses. The antiwar feelings were blunted by union victories at Cedar Creek, Mobile and Atlanta.

       At the time of his letter, Lee’s army was somewhat trapped behind fortifications along the Richmond-Petersburg front. Grant had just moved his command to City Point, VA and Lee now had to protect not only Richmond but also his vital supply line at Petersburg. Watkins was correct that victory would eventually be achieved “If we could get them out of their fortifications.”

           Watkins may also have been writing to Moorhead in the hopes of networking for future employment opportunities. Had he lived, Watkins would have returned home in November of 1864 so he was within a few month of the end of his three-year enlistment. In the last sentence of his letter, however, Watkins hints that he might reenlist and stay in the service until the end of the war, after seeing to the needs of his mother in Pennsylvania.

         Watkins was survived by his wife, Mary Elizabeth Chrissinger Watkins, whom had married earlier in the year at McKeesport, PA. Watkins had gone home on March 3 from Hilton Head, South Carolina to accompany 110 members of the regiment who had reenlisted and had therefore earned a month's furlough to travel back to western Pennsylvania. Accompanying Watkins aboard the steamship Arago (right)  for this duty were Captain Ross Sanner of Company F as well as Lieutenants Jacob Davis of Company E and Levi Rogers of Company F.

         Upon his death, Watkins'  body was sent home and he was buried on his family's property in West Brownsville, Washington County. Mary apparently never remarried and died in Iowa in 1909. 

 

                       The Pittsburgh Daily Commercial             August 17, 1864                  Page 4

                             A Cheering Voice from a Gallant Officer

                                                                                                                     Camp of the 85^th Penn’a Vols.

                                                                                                                      Near Bermuda Hundred, Va.,                                                                                                                       July 5, 1864

Hon. J. K. Moorhead, Pittsburgh, Pa.:

    DEAR SIR: -- I intended to have written to you before the closing of Congress, at which time you were at Washington City zealously engaged in counteracting Copperhead influence so as to repeal the three hundred dollar clause of the Conscription law. However, I was prevented on account of the continuous fighting which was going on in our front. If it had not been that I observed, in the reading of the proceedings of Congress, that you were among the number who voted right, I should have made a great effort to drop you a line. I assure you that the army was considerably interested, and all who favored the repeal have won the admiration of all the soldiers and every patriot.

       No doubt but I had better introduce myself before proceeding, for fear that you have forgotten me, or it may be that you never knew me. Suffice for me to say, I remember you. However, I am satisfied that you will recollect or have some knowledge of me when I refer you to my father, Richard Watkins, who, before his death, lived at Lock No. 5. I have been in the army nearly three years, under the command of Colonel J.B. Howell, with whom no doubt but you are well acquainted, during which time

Confederate Deserters   Harper's Weekly  7-16-1864

I never was more confident of success as now. When the Army of the Potomac was on the Peninsula, two years ago, scarcely a deserter came into our lines. And if any did come they were always foreigners or were Northern men. Since we have been here this time there are many, almost every one of whom are natives of Virginia. I have talked with several within the last few days. They all say that much dissatisfaction prevails in their army, and a lack of confidence of success. A great many complain of the bad faith of their government, in first getting them into the army, and at the expiation of their term of service conscripting them for an indefinite length of time or so long as the war lasts. I am afraid that the people of the North will become impatient and be disposed to have peace on any terms, when the Confederacy is fast falling to pieces, and a short time will consummate the work of destruction. Although the rebels fight well, yet I think that they were not as determined as when we fought them at Fair Oaks [Seven Pines]. If we could only get them out of their fortifications, the fate of the rebellion would soon be decided.

            The last of the Southern men are in the field, and as this war will terminate only then the resources of the South are exhausted. I think that the beginning of the end is at hand.

         The weather is quite hot, yet much healthier than when we were on the Peninsula before. The health of the troops is good considering the season. The attack on Petersburg did not result as favorable as we could have expected, yet we are not discouraged nor was it barren of any advantage. Grant sill sticks close to the enemy, and would succeed if the rebs were kept out of the State. The accounts given by correspondents of the press must be taken with considerable allowance. I believe that our cause has been injured by false statements.

       My term of service will soon be out, having served for nearly three years. I expect to return home and procure a satisfactory home for an aged mother, after which I will return if this war is not terminated.

                   I remain your friend.

                                                                                          LEWIS WATKINS

                                                                                          Captain 65^th [sic] Pa. Vols.

Eight Close Calls

        

     

   

          The 85th Pennsylvania regiment suffered substantial losses during the Civil War. About 250 men died; about a hundred from battle deaths and 150 from diseases. They lost more than some regiments but not as much as others. 

       As numerous as their losses were, however, it is somewhat amazing that they did not lose more men. Either through fate, divine intervention or luck, there were numerous times in which the regiment was not picked for an assignment that resulted in large if not huge Union losses. 

      Below, I have listed eight times the regiment was fated NOT to take part in such battles or campaigns.

1. Seven Days' Battles

     At the Battle of Seven Pines, VA on May 31, 1862, the 85th Pennsylvania, as part of Silas Casey's

Map by Hal Jespersen   www.cwmaps.com
Keyes Corps (with 85th PA) in the rear

undermanned and inexperienced division, held off a Confederate attack against 2-to-1 odds until Union reinforcements arrived. For this performance, they were unfairly shamed by their leader, General George B. McClellan of the Army of the Potomac, for retreating after several hours of intense fighting when their only other alternative was capture. McClellan's assessment was wrong; but because of his division's perceived poor performance, Casey was sacked, replaced by John J. Peck, and his division was placed in the rear for the Seven Days' Battles during the month of June. Yes, the 85th Pennsylvania suffered greatly in the pestilent and swampy conditions of a hot and humid summer in Virginia during that month. Forty men from the regiment died during June. But their losses would have been even more substantial had McClellan not removed them from the Seven Days Battles (June 25-July 1). Union losses in this series of battles were nearly 16,000 men. The main contribution of Peck's Division main  was guarding the supply trains during McClellan's withdrawal from the Virginia peninsula to Harrison's Landing in early July.

2. Second Bull Run and Antietam

   

Antietam   LOC

 In August of 1862, McClellan underwent a remarkable change of attitude regarding Casey's Division, now led by General Peck. Once scorned as cowards, McClellan, always on the lookout for reinforcements,  now repeatedly asked  Washington to reacquire Peck's Division for the upcoming campaign in northern Virginia and Maryland. General Henry Halleck, head of the army, considered McClellan's request but instead shipped Peck's men to Suffolk, VA to protect the Norfolk Navy Yard for the later half of 1862. The 85th Pennsylvania consequently missed the deadly battles of Second Manassas (August 28-30) and Antietam (September 22). The 85th Pennsylvania lost 21 men, mainly due to diseases, while at Suffolk. They were involved in two skirmishes at the Blackwater River in October where they suffered no casualties. Meanwhile, the combined Union losses at Second Bull Run and Antietam were around 27,000 men.

 
3. South Carolina 

    At the end of their stay in Suffolk, Henry Wessells' Brigade (which included the 85th Pennsylvania)

Andersonville   LOC

took part in the two-week Goldsboro Expedition in North Carolina. In the spring of 1863, Wessells' Brigade was sent to the Albemarle region of the state. His brigade included three regiments with which the 85th Pennsylvania had served during the Goldsboro Expedition: 101st Pennsylvania, 103rd Pennsylvania and 85th New York. The 85th Pennsylvania, however was detached, upon the request of Colonel Joshua Howell, and sent to South Carolina for the campaign against Charleston and Fort Sumter. Howell's request was granted. The regiment suffered many casualties over the next year, mainly due to disease and sickness. Wessells' command, overwhelmed by land forces and the ironclad Albemarle, surrendered the 2500 survivors at Plymouth, NC in the spring of 1864. Many died in the Andersonville POW hellhole.

4. Fort Wagner

   

Storming of Fort Wagner    LOC

In July of 1863, the Union suffered heavy losses in two failed assaults against Fort Wagner. In both cases, the 85th Pennsylvania was to be in the second wave of attackers; but because initial losses were so heavy, the second waves were called off. Not so fortunate were the 62nd Ohio and 67th Ohio, both detached from Howell's Brigade for first wave of the second assault on July 18. The first Union assault on Fort Wagner on July 10 caused 330 Union casualties. The second assault on July 18 also resulted in failure to capture the battery but with much larger casualty numbers. Along with the 54th Massachusetts Colored Regiment and others, both Ohio regiments suffered heavy losses.

Union losses totaled over 1500 men. For the two Ohio regiments, casualties totaled 277.  After the failure of the second assault, the Union decided to dig a series of parallels approaching Fort Wagner. The 85th Pennsylvania had  68 casualties in this operation, more than any other regiment. But when it was the turn for the 85th Pennsylvania to assault Fort Wagner in early September, it was discovered that the structure had been abandoned the previous night by its Confederate defenders. The 85th Pennsylvania lost just one man to a land mine.

5. Olustee

 

 In January of 1864, General Truman Seymour led a Union assault force against Florida. The Union saw an opportunity to wrest Florida, which they perceived to be lightly defended, from the Confederacy. The 85th

Battle of Olustee         Kurz and Alison Lithograph

Pennsylvania was slated to play a prominent role in Seymour's assault, but because so many of Joshua Howell's Brigade went home on furlough in exchange for extending their enlistments, the 85th Pennsylvania stayed behind. They therefore missed out on a useless Union assault at Olustee, Florida, where Seymour's command suffered huge losses approaching 2000 men. Ironically, Howell's Brigade was held back because many men had reenlisted and had earned a 30-day furlough to their homes. The 85th Pennsylvania had only about a hundred men reenlist, but the other three regiments of the brigade (39th Illinois, 62nd Ohio and 67th Ohio) had larger numbers of men reenlist, making the brigade so reduced that they became ineligible for Seymour's movement.

6. Cold Harbor

   

LOC

In June of 1864, General U.S. Grant launched an ill-fated assault at Cold Harbor, VA at the end of his Overland Campaign. It failed substantially. Grant later said it was his biggest mistake of the war. The 85th Pennsylvania was part of Benjamin Butler's Army of the James below Richmond. The Army of the James consisted of the 10th and 18th Corps. The 85th Pennsylvania was part of the 10th Corps. The 18th Corps was detached from the Bermuda Hundred and sent to fight at Cold Harbor while the 10th Corps stayed behind. Grant suffered over 12000 losses at Cold Harbor; 3000 were members of the 18th Corps.

7. Bermuda Hundred 

    While stationed at the Bermuda Hundred peninsula south of Richmond in May of 1864, eight battles

Bermuda Hundred Reenactment 2014

were fought by Benjamin Butler's Army of the James before the Confederates completed the "Howlett Line"  of entrenchments across to entire peninsula from the Appomattox the James Rives, effectively stopping any plans by Butler to threaten Richmond. Of the eight battles fought in May, the 85th Pennsylvania was engaged just twice, both times at Ware Bottom Church. But over the entire series of battles, the 39th Illinois from their brigade suffered much heavier losses. Finding themselves isolated on May 15 during the battle of Drewry's Bluff, this regiment lost 127 of 550 men who went into battle that day. The 39th Illinois also lost over a hundred men at the two fights at Ware Bottom Church. The 85th Pennsylvania had about 50 men killed and wounded in the same two engagements. 

8. Darbytown Road

     

Colonel Francis B. Pond
62nd Ohio

In mid-October of 1864, a day before most of the regiment was taken off the front lines to await the end of their three-year enlistments, the 85th Pennsylvania as part of Francis Pond's Brigade was ordered to attack a fortified position along Darbytown Road near Richmond. The 85th Pennsylvania was to be in front lines for the obvious suicidal attack, that is obvious to everyone except General Adelbert Ames and cavalry commander August Kautz, who planned the assault. Ames' only concession was to reinforce Pond with two additional regiments. For some reason, Pond reorganized his lineup of regiments. The 10th Connecticut, one of the added regiments that expected to play only a reserve role, was placed up front while the 85th Pennsylvania was sent to the rear. During the assault, the 10th Connecticut lost over half of their regiment. The 85th Pennsylvania, meanwhile, suffered just eight casualties, none fatal. Of Pond's force of 550 men, 228 were killed or wounded. 

"If I Never Get Home, I Hope to Meet You in Heaven."

•          

• 

  Clarksville, Greene County
  from J.A. Caldwell Greene County 1876
  (Pryor household may be in pink section of map)
  
  

            One of the saddest stories in the history of the 85th Pennsylvania was that of Wilson and Robert Pryor. They were father and son, both members of Company D from Clarksville, Greene County. The remaining members of their family, particularly Wilson's wife, Catherine, were dealt a cruel fate during the course of the war.

          Wilson and Robert enlisted together into Company D of the 85th Pennsylvania in September of 1861. Wilson was 49 years of age; his son was 18. They served in the regiment together from training camp  in Uniontown, PA,  to fort construction in Washington, DC and  through the Peninsula Campaign in Virginia.

      There are hints that young Robert was the male figurehead of the family for his mother and younger siblings even before the pair went off to war. Wilson Pryor seems to have had an alcohol problem for many years before his enlistment. Robert may have wanted his father in Company D with him to perhaps help him cope with life; their service would also provide a steady income in order to send money home to Clarksville to support the rest of the family.

        Wilson Pryor apparently was ailing during the Peninsula Campaign. Robert wrote home to his mother sometime in the summer of 1862 that, "Pap [Wilson] wants you to try and stay where you are till he gets home if you can. That is if he ever gets home. I hope to God we may both get home safe again. If I ever get home safe you shall never want for anything, but if I never get home I hope to meet you in heaven."

        After 14 months in the regiment, Wilson Pryor was sent home on a medical discharge in early 1863. Mr. Pryor was in poor health when he died a few months later on June 4, 1863. The cause of death was an apparent suicide by hanging in his hometown. He was buried in the Burson Cemetery in Clarksville, Greene County.

         A local newspaper recorded Pryor's death in this blunt manner.  “Wilson Prior of Clarksville, in this [Greene] County, committed suicide in an old, unoccupied dwelling of that village on Thursday last. It is supposed he was laboring under mental aberration. His body was not found till Monday morning, when an inquest was held. The deceased was a returned volunteer, and left a large family of children.”'

        In the months between is father's discharge and his death, Mrs. Pryor had to go to efforts to conceal the money sent home by her son. Catherine later stated in an affidavit that Wilson Pryor "...was of intemperate habits [drinking] and that in order to prevent him from squandering the money sent by Robert Pryor, her said son, it was necessary for her to conceal the fact of having received said money from her husband."

       

Harper's Weekly  February 28,  1863

           The affidavit also stated that Robert was supporting his family even before joining the 85th Pennsylvania regiment. "[he contributed]...two hundred dollars...by laboring at home for his parents." During his nearly three years in the service, he sent $115 home to Catherine as well. The strain to provide for his mother and siblings only increased in the months following his father's death. Plus Robert had to deal with the harsh conditions of the war itself.

       

           In the late summer of 1863, with his regiment stationed on Morris Island, SC, Robert and his regiment were digging trenches to prepare for a third assault on Fort Wagner. Robert wrote home that, "We are now in sight of Charleston and its defenses. we go within 100 yards of their forts every night and are very much exposed to their shell and canister. One day there was a shell come over and blowed one man all to pieces and wounded 5 men."

           

LOC

         Writing from Folly Island, SC in the spring of 1863, Robert discussed with his mother the death of his father. Robert wrote, "You said it was reported around Greene County that Pap tryed to hang himself [while he was] in the army. There is nothing of it. It is a lie...Let me know if you can get a house and a lot of about 3 or 4 acres. I don't want you to go back to the old place."

         Several months later, Robert wrote, "You told me Pap was in his right mind when he killed himself. I don't believe he was or he would not have done it."

         Robert, however, added a warning for his younger brother, David. "Tell David to never touch whiskey, Mother. I want you to raise them children wright. I know you can do it and keep on good terms with all the neighbors...Let's quit talking about Pap."

         Robert Pryor remained with the regiment through the Siege of Charleston, South Carolina, and then the  Bermuda Hundred Campaign in Virginia in 1864. 

        At the Second Battle of Deep Bottom, Robert was captured. He may have been a part of a contingent of troops who, after capturing a Confederate earthwork, became overzealous and pursued the retreating enemy into Confederate lines where they were taken prisoner.

         Robert died in captivity from exposure and malnutrition at the infamous

Andersonville prison camp in Georgia. 

        Along with fellow Company D comrade James Meeks, it was assumed the pair had been killed at Second Deep Bottom. But another captured member of Company D, Joseph Burson, lived long enough upon his release to disclose the fates of Meeks and Pryor to his father.

LOC

 

        Just prior to his capture, Pryor wrote home to his mother that, "I expect to be home in two months. my time is out the 15 of September, that is when my inlistment runs out."

         Corporal Burson of Company D was exchanged but died on the way back to western Pennsylvania. Catherine Pryor received a letter from Burson's uncle informing him of Robert's death in Andersonville. It said, "I received a letter from my brother last night [Joseph] is lying in bed in Annapolis [hospital]. He tells me your son Robert Pryor is dead. My brother said he died of starvation."  

The fate of Catherine Pryor and her family is unknown.                                                                   

 

  

Private Henry K. Atchison of Company G

     

Canning Jar by Henry K. Atchison
Circa 1860
Courtesy of  crockerfarm.com

From the 1890 Veterans Schedule
Special Census of Civil War Veterans

           About 20 or so members of the 85th Pennsylvania regiment suffered the amputation of an arm or leg during the war. One who did and survived was Henry K. Atchison of Company G, who suffered the loss of his right arm in 1864. Atchison did not suffer from a gunshot wound; his arm was not cut off by a doctor. His arm was instantly detached by an artillery shell while Atchison was sitting calmly in camp.
        Atchison was born in 1820 and was 41 years of age when he enlisted into the 85th Pennsylvania in 1861. Like his colonel, Joshus B. Howell, Atchison was born in New Jersey. His parents were Robert and Jane Parshall Atchison. While growing up Henry learned the pottery trade from his father. [Samuel Bates, History of Greene County, 762-3]
        At age 35, he moved to New Geneva, PA in Fayette County and continued his trade for the next six years. He lived in Butler County, PA before moving to Greene County just before the outbreak of the Civil War. He enlisted in Company G, a unit from Greene County, that eventually became part of Howell's 85th regiment.
        Atchison was nearing the end of his three-year enlistment when he was wounded. The regiment spent the summer stationed in the Bermuda Hundred peninsula of Virginia between the James and Appomattox Rivers south of Richmond.
       In August of 1864, they had just returned to their camp near Ware Bottom Church from a grueling week-long campaign north of the James River that culminated in the Second Battle of Deep Bottom that resulted in scores of casualties in the regiment.
      Just three days after their return, they were ordered to march to the Petersburg,VA front upon the orders of General Benjamin Butler of the Army of the James. When the regiment got there in late August, they prepared to attack the Petersburg defenses but the attack was called off. They instead were sent to Fort Morton, perhaps a mile from the famous Battle of the Crater where one month earlier, Union forces ignited a massive explosion beneath a Confederate position but failed in the follow-up assault to pierce the enemy position.

Fort Morton   LOC

        Fort Morton was perhaps less than a mile from the Crater across a valley, In the valley was a stream where soldiers from both sides would meet and exchange items during lulls in the shelling.
     Colonel Howell described the position in a letter to his family. "...here we are in front of the celebrated city of Petersburgh. My command is a mile and a quarter from the city. The steeples of the churches and the clock are plainly in sight of my forts. The celebrated Burnside mine and crater are directly in front of us. About 300 yards from us are two of my forts. We are under heavy fire of artillery and musketry the entire day and night --shell and ball (rifle and artillery) fly about headquarters with a 'perfect looseness.' An orderly's horse was shot this morning just in front of my quarters. A shell exploded over my quarters about 30 paces beyond it in front whilst I was asleep yesterday morning." [Book of John Howell and His Descendants, Volume II, 452]
     Indeed their position seemed to be perilous. Two privates, John Cairney and Joseph Banks, were struck with the same bullet from a Confederate sharpshooter as they were delivering food to the soldiers on the picket line.
   

LOC

      There are several versions of Atchison's wounding which occurred on September 1, 1864 that all basically tell the same story. The first comes from Sergeant M.L. Gordon who was a member of Atchison's company
         "We were right in front of the mine that had exploded a few weeks before. Here firing was going on almost all the time, day and night. Our camp was in easy range of the enemy's guns. One day I was standing in camp, talking to a friend named Myers Titus, when a cannon-ball came over, struck in a tent near us, where 'Skeety' Atkinson [sic] was writing, cut his arm off near the shoulder, and passed on between my friends and me as we were talking."  [M.L. Gordon, Experiences in the Civil War, 20]
        Regimental historian Luther S. Dickey recorded that, "...on September 1, Private Henry K. Atchison of Company G, while sitting in camp making our muster rolls, had an arm shot off by a solid shot or unexploded shell from the enemy's artillery." [Dickey, History of the Eighty-Fifth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, 374]
        A soldier from another regiment in their brigade, Homer Plimpton of the 39th Illinois, mentioned Atchison's wounding in his journal. "...an old man of the 85th Pa. was struck in the shoulder by a fragment of a shell while making out company payroll in the captain's tent. The arm was so shattered that it hung merely by the nerve and artery and a small bridge of integument. It was removed at the shoulder joint and although he was sixty years of age [actually 44] he bids fair to make a good recovery." [The Civil War Journals of Col. Homer A. Plimpton, John L. Dodson, ed. 2012, p . 354]
      Atchison survived the wound. He was a prominent potter prior to the war. Several of his pre-war creations have recently been sold at online auctions for thousands of dollars.They can be seen here,  here and here.
       Atchison began receiving a government pension for the loss of his arm in 1874. By 1883, he was receiving a payment of $24 per month.
        After the war, he is still listed as a potter in the 1870 census. More likely is that he was either running the family business or training two of his sons in the trade. Sons James and Henry are listed as potters still living with their parents.

   

        Ten years later, Atchison is listed in the census as a "U.S. Storekeeper," [below] a government position that often went to soldiers who had suffered from amputations in the war. A third son, Charles,was now listed as a potter.

     

        Atchison died in 1893 at the age of 73 and is buried in the Monongahela Hill Cemetery in Greensboro, PA in Greene County.
 

Headstone Application

     
     

Home on Furlough 1864

Harper's Weekly
February, 1864

        After a hard campaign around Charleston, SC that resulted in the capture of Morris Island (but not the fall of Fort Sumter and Charleston) the 85th Pennsylvania spent the first few months of 1864 in relaxed duty on Hilton Head Island.
        While stationed there, the Union hierarchy made a concerted effort to have as many regiments as possible reenlist beyond their original 3-year commitments. If a certain percentage of men in a regiment re-enlisted, they earned the designation of being called "veteran volunteers."
      The other three regiments in the brigade of the 85th Pennsylvania all earned this distinction. They were the 62nd Ohio, 67th Ohio and 39th Illinois. Although a number of 85th Pennsylvanians re-enlisted, not enough extended their service to earn the distinction of being called a veteran volunteer regiment.

Waynesburg (PA) Messenger     3-16-1864,    p.3

       In my book, Such Hard and Severe Service: The 85th Pennsylvania in the Civil War, I detail the efforts of their officers to encourage their men to re-enlist and explore the reason more men did not sign on for extended service.
       Those that did re-enlist earned an immediate 30-day furlough to go back home to visit family and friends; also some states used the furloughed men to recruit new men from their home areas. Another inducement may have been cash payments in the hundreds of dollars from their local and/or county government. This helped fill a quota of men the locality was expected to furnish towards the war effort.
       Only about a hundred or so men re-enlisted from the 85th Pennsylvania. The article at the right is from a Greene County newspaper of the time, the Waynesburg Messenger. It lists a number of Greene Countians, mostly from Companies F and G, who returned home on leave in early 1864 under the command of Lieutenant Levi Rogers.
       Unfortunately, when they returned to army duty, less than half of the men in this group made it unscathed through the rest of the war. The article mentions 23 men from the 85th Pennsylvania who visited Waynesburg. When their month was over and they returned to the war, three were killed, seven were wounded, two died from disease and one was captured. The rest returned to the war and survived without dying or being wounded.
    It should also be noted that none of the men who were killed or hurt died as a result of extending their service. All fell during the period of their original enlistment, which ended in November of 1864.

           Below is the list of the men in the same order they are named in the news article, as well as what happened to them during and after the war.

Soldiers Home on Furlough
Harper's Weekly
January 23, 1864

Lieutenant Levi Muncy Rogers was severely wounded in the hip at the Battle of Second Deep Bottom outside of Richmond in August of 1864. He died three weeks later at a hospital at Fort Monroe, VA. He is buried in the Hampton (VA) National Cemetery.
Sergeant Elmore A. Russell was wounded four times during the war. His most severe wound was suffered at Second Deep Bottom where he was shot in the arm. Russell survived the war and settled in Texas for the last four decades of his life. His occupations included teacher, farmer, fruit-grower, postmaster and city councilman. He died in 1912 at Lamar, TX at the age of 70.
Sergeant Alonzo Lightner was killed at the Second Battle of Deep Bottom. He was about 24 years of age.
Corporal Thomas J. White survived the war and settled in Nebraska where he worked as a printer. He was one of eight members of the regiment who earned a "Gillmore" Medal for meritorious service during operations on Morris Island, SC in 1863. White died in 1896 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. 

Corporal John N. Durbin was wounded in the leg at Darbytown Road near Richmond on October 13, 1864. He died in 1897 and is buried in Greene County.

Corporal Thomas M. Sellers was wounded at the Battle of Second Deep Bottom but survived. He became a farmer in Kansas and a horticulturalist in Texas after the war. He died at the age of 86 in 1932 and is buried in Houston.

Civil War Song Sheet  LOC

Corporal John D. Haveley was wounded at Second Deep Bottom but stayed in the army until the end of 1865. He died around 1880.
Private William E. Leonard was awarded a Medal of Honor for the capture of an enemy flag at Second Deep Bottom, where he also suffered a head wound.
Private Lisbon Scott was captured in May of 1864 during the Bermuda Hundred Campaign. After nearly a year, he was released from Andersonville Prison in Georgia. He went home to Greene County and served as a county commissioner. Scott died in 1917.
Private John Rizor was born in Marshall County, VA (later West Virginia) and served until 1865. He died in 1919 and is buried in Belmont County, Ohio.
Private Isaac Gray was wounded twice prior to his furlough. He served until 1865 and then returned to his life as a farmer in Greene County. He died in 1906.

Private George Pettit suffered a facial wound at Second Deep Bottom. He returned home and worked as a farmer in West Virginia. He patented a self-closing farm gate in 1897. Pettit died in 1917.

Private Jackson Kimble had his right arm amputated after being wounded at Second Deep Bottom. He died in 1913 and is buried in Greene County.

Private James Huffman returned to Greene County and his life as a farmer after the war. He died in 1911.

Private Jacob Huffman was wounded at Darbytown Road in October of 1864. He died in 1927 at the age of 86 and is buried in Illinois.

Private David Fry served in the regiment for four years and three months. Returning after the war to Greene County, he had a wife, Mary, and four children. He died in 1907.

Private Henry Fry was shot and killed while on picket duty at Ware Bottom Church on June 17, 1864. He was survived by his wife and three children.

Private Andrew J. Morris returned from his furlough and soon died from smallpox in April of 1864. He is buried in the Beaufort National Cemetery in South Carolina.

Private Alfred McDonald returned from his furlough and contracted jaundice. He died in October of 1864 at the age of 44. He is buried in the Hampton (VA) National Cemetery. McDonald was survived by his wife, Christina, and four children.

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Private John Rush was one of three men named John Rush in the regiment, all from Greene County. This is probably John J. Rush, who returned to Greene County after the war. He died in 1914.
Private William Seabold survived the war and moved to Ohio. He died in 1918 and is buried in West Jefferson, Ohio.
Private Thomas Rinehart returned home to Greene County after four years of service. He died in 1922 at the age of 86.
Private Andrew Frakes lived in Ohio and West Virginia after the war before returning to Greene County. He died in 1922 at the age of 76.

Medal of Honor Recipients in the 85th PA

     

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        For their actions during the Civil War, three members of the 85th Pennsylvania regiment were awarded Congressional Medals of Honor. They were John Shallenberger, William E. Leonard and Francis Morrison.
       Another member of the regiment, James Huff of Company E, stayed in the army following the war and was awarded a Medal of Honor in the 1870's during the army's campaign against the Apache Indians in America's southwest.
      Both Shallenberger of Company B and Leonard of Company F won their medals for capturing enemy flags during the Second Battle of Deep Bottom on August 16, 1864 near Richmond. Their medals were issued on April 6, 1865.
    Francis Morrison of Company H won his Medal of Honor for trying to save a fellow member of his company while under fire at Ware Bottom Church in Virginia on June 17, 1864.
       Leonard and Shallenberger's heroic moment occurred during Grant's fourth offensive against the Richmond-to-Petersburg (Virginia) line in mid-August of 1864, a simultaneous two-pronged attack against both cities. The 85th Pennsylvania crossed the James River from the Bermuda Hundred to help pressure the Confederates' Richmond defenses and make the Confederates continue to stretch their defensive line covering both cities. The 85th Pennsylvania, as part of the brigade of Colonel Francis B. Pond, temporarily poked a hole in the Confederate line near Darbytown Road, but eventually Union forces gave way in the face of Confederate reinforcements. The Union had better success at the other end of the line near Petersburg, capturing the Weldon Railroad.

Pontoon Bridge at Deep Bottom,VA
Across the James River    LOC

      At Deep Bottom, the 85th Pennsylvania and the rest of the Pond's Brigade stormed and captured an enemy position. The brigade suffered heavy losses. One account said that an initial volley by the Confederates killed and wounded many of Pond's men in the assault, but that the rest of the brigade took the Confederate position before the rebels could reload their muskets and fire a second time. Colonel Edward C. Campbell of the 85th Pennsylvania noted it was the first time his men had engaged in hand-to-hand warfare in their nearly three years of fighting. During the final phase of capturing the enemy position, Shallenberger and Leonard snatched enemy colors from two regiments.
         Shallenberger (or Shellenberger), age 24 from Fayette County, worked as a farm laborer after the war He died in 1911 at the age of 71 in Granville, Licking County, Ohio where he spent the last 20 years of his life. Nearly eighty years later, in 1990, a new bronze marker was installed at his gravesite at the Welsh Hills Cemetery in Granville, Licking County. His original marble headstone mentioned only his service in the Civil War. The newer bronze marker recognized him for his Medal of Honor.
         In 2013, the Pennsylvania General Assembly designated a portion of the Mon Valley Expressway Interchange (Exit 18) in Fayette County as the John S. Shallenberger Interchange.
     Like Shallenberger, William E. Leonard captured an enemy flag at Second Deep Bottom. Leonard was wounded in the ear during the assault but survived. Leonard died in early 1891. A fellow soldier from Company F, wrote a tribute to Leonard that appeared in the Washington Observer newspaper (February 26, 1891, page 1). Sergeant James E. Sayers wrote a detailed recollection of Leonard's actions that day.
   

Second Deep Bottom Reenactment  2014

 "To him belongs the honor of capturing the only flag taken from the enemy on the field of battle by a Greene countian during the war...It was at the battle of Deep Bottom, Va., on August 16, 1964. In a charge by our brigade upon the enemy's works, the 85th lost the heaviest it ever did in a single dash.  Massed in 'close column by division at half distance,' which simply means a solid square, we made the outset through a thicket, and coming upon the enemy's rifle pits before we were scarcely aware of their proximity, received the fire of a double line of battle so close that the blaze from their muskets almost reached our faces. Men fell so thickly that I thought they all had laid down. But in an instant, those not hit recovered from the blinding,crashing musketry and with a 'hurrah,' leaped the rifle pits. Many of the Confederates fled, but a large proportion were captured. Ed Leonard went over the works a few rods to my left, and with others, pursed the enemy until recalled or rather forced back by the enemy reinforced...It was a day or two after the charge before Ed reported the capture of the flag. He first told some of his comrades and showed them the flag, and by then it was reported to headquarters. Ed's story is that after he crossed the works, he saw the flag and went for it. The man who carried it was shot...the dead man grasped the staff so firmly that in the haste and confusion of the fight, Ed stripped the flag from its staff and stuffed it in his haversack and it remained there until the hurly burly and anxiety of the fight was over." 

Francis Morrison's Chest Wound
Courtesy of Vallorie Brady

      Francis Morrison enlisted into of Company H as  a 16-year old  from Ohiopyle, Fayette County and was the last of the 85th Pennsylvania soldiers to receive a Medal of Honor for a brave act during the Civil War. On June 17, 1864, at the Battle of Ware Bottom Church during the Bermuda Hundred Campaign, Morrison risked his life in an attempt to carry comrade Jesse Dial from the field to safety. Dial died of his wounds, but this did not lessen Morrison's bravery.
      Morrison's citation stated,  "Private Jesse Dial was struck by a bullet and left behind. Private Morrison saw his comrade fall and, with utter disregard of a hail of bullets, advanced towards the enemy and was soon at the side of his friends. As he tenderly raised him from the ground to discover to his dismay that Dial wad dead. He then carried the corpse back to his regiment."
    Morrison's act of bravery was observed by Captain Ross Sanner, who submitted a recommendation for the Medal of Honor.
      Two months later, Morrison was shot through the chest at the Second Battle of Deep Bottom. The gunshot wound through his lung was described as fatal at the time. Morrison recovered, however (he had an open exit wound in his back for the remainder of his life), and went on to live for 49 more years. Morrison had also been earlier wounded at Seven Pines, Virginia in 1862 and on Morris Island, South Carolina in 1863.

Instructor Francis Morrison
Courtesy of Vallorie Brady

       Morrison began receiving a pension for his back wound in 1867. By 1883, he was receiving $18 a month, demonstrating the seriousness of his injury (amputees received $24).
    The postwar life of Morrison, who returned to Ohiopyle, included teaching, farming, serving as as justice of the peace and school board member. He died in 1913 and is buried in the Sugar Grove Cemetery in Ohiopyle. (Laurel Messenger, August, 1968, p.8)
          Morrison received his Medal of Honor 33 years after his valorous act, probably with the intercession of Inspector General Robert P. Hughes, a former officer of the 85th Pennsylvania who helped lead the charge that day at Deep Bottom.
        James Huff of Company E  was from Washington, PA. Huff had the distinction of serving in the infantry, artillery and cavalry during the course of his career. Huff began his military service in the 85th Pennsylvania under sad circumstances. His brother, Andrew, was one of the first members of the regiment to die (from disease) early in the regiment's stay at Washington, DC in 1861.
      James Huff served for a year in the 85th Pennsylvania and then transferred to the 4th U.S. Artillery, Battery L. Unlike almost every other member of his original regiment, Huff decided to make the military his career. He reenlisted in 1867 and was sent to the western frontier.
       A biographical entry  from the turn of the century noted,“James W, Huff, a veteran of the Civil War, re-enlisted in the United

James W. Huff

States Army at Philadelphia in 1867, and was assigned to troop ‘L,’ 1^st Cavalry. The troop, with others, was sent to Arizona in June, 1869. It remained at Fort Goodwin until 1870, and then went to Fort Apache, which it helped to establish. Huff was the first white man to construct a log-house in that region. The Apache Indians, those scourges of the southwestern frontier, went upon the war-path in the winter of 1872, and during the balance of the winter and spring of 1873 kept the available United States troops very busy. General George Crook, upon the commencement of hostilities, ordered into the field a part of the 1^st Cavalry…The Indians were overtaken in the Dragoon Mountains, and defeated.
      "They were separated into small bands and scattered through the surrounding region. When about eight miles from the command, the Apaches were discovered. Notwithstanding that the scouting party was outnumbered five or six to one, the Apaches were without hesitation or delay vigorously attacked. Huff and his three companions during the fight, which was very fierce while it was in progress, succeeded in killing seventeen of the Apaches, when the remainder fled.” 
      After his army service, Huff lived in Georgia and in 1910 and was the overseer of a rifle range in Turkey Creek, Carroll County  Huff moved to Florida and died in New Port Richey in 1927 at the age of 87.