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."

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  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.                                                                   

 

  

The Last Wounded Man

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The Daily Courier
Connellsville, PA
September 18, 1911, p.1

    Next week I am going to speculate about which soldier from the 85th Pennsylvania was the last to die in battle or due to a battlefield wound. This week I will focus on the last man to be wounded who survived the war. That man appears to be Private James C. Davis of Company E. 

    The article at the right from 1911 mentions four veterans of the 85th Pennsylvania and has a revealing mention about Davis as the war was closing.

   The four soldiers from the 85th Pennsylvania in the article are, Davis, Eli F. Huston, (Company E), Henry J. Molleston (I) and Joshua Torrance (B). Huston, Molleston and Torrance were all living in Dawson, Fayette County at the time.

   The story is about a dinner party for Davis, who lived in Oklahoma. Davis had come back home for a regimental reunion that year that was held at Brownsville, Fayette County in mid-September. About 75 elderly members of the regiment were in attendance. 

   Eli F. Huston was 76 years old at this time. He was born in Fayette County. He enlisted as a wagoner but spent the war in the ranks as a private. Huston was wounded in the thigh on Morris Island, SC in 1863 when his regiment was digging a series of trenches that resulted in the capture of Fort Wagner. He was a coal miner following the war, working his was up to superintendent of one of the mines near Connellsville.

    Six years later in 1917, Huston attended the regimental reunion in Uniontown and died the next day of pneumonia at age 82.

   Henry J. Molleston, age 74, was given a medical discharge after 30 months of service. After the war, he attended California Normal School (now California University of Pennsylvania, the school from which the author graduated). Besides finding work as a farmer and blacksmith, Molleston worked as an engineer for a coal company . He also became a preacher in the Methodist Church.

          Joshua Torrance. age 67, was captured at Ware

Andersonville Prison   LOC

Bottom Church (VA) on June 16, 1864 while on picket duty. He spent two months at Libby Prison in Richmond and then another 11 months at Andersonville Prison in Georgia. He was released on April 1, 1865, just eight days before the end of the war. He later served as school director, tax collector and auditor for Lower Tyrone Township in Fayette County following the war. 

       James C. Davis, 65 years of age, had enlisted as a 15-year old in 1861. After the war, he served as a school principal in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana. He moved to Kansas in 1880 where he served three terms as school superintendent for Chase County. He later purchased land in Oklahoma and became an oil prospector. 

       The article about the dinner party states that Davis was "the last member of the 85th wounded, the date being April 2, 1865."

         This happened during an assault upon Fort Gregg on the last line of inner line of defenses around Petersburg, VA. Earlier in the day, after a ten month siege, Union forces had pierced the Confederates' outer defensive line, forcing Lee out of his trenches. Lee headed west in a futile attempt to link with Joseph E. Johnston's army in North Carolina. Lee surrendered at Appomattox one week later to end the war. 

 

Storming Fort Gregg    LOC

        Fort Gregg was extremely bloody. Every Confederate  in the fort, numbering about 330 men, was killed, wounded or taken prisoner as the rebels fought to the end to give Lee time to evacuate the Richmond-Petersburg front.

   

Colonel Thomas O. Osborn
Yates Phalanx

        The 85th Pennsylvania was in the first of four waves to rush the fort. They were commanded by Colonel Thomas O. Osborn of the 39th Illinois. Osborn's Brigade made it into the moat surrounded the earthen fort, which saved many lives until several more waves of Union troops breached the parapet and  forced the fort to surrender. The Union suffered over 700 casualties in the assault. *

        Davis was one of 163 remaining members of the 85th Pennsylvania  after 1864  (these remaining men had reenlisted or had joined the regiment after 1861 and were yet to complete their three years). The majority of the regiment had gone home four months earlier.
        The last battle in which the full regiment was engaged was at Darbytown Road near Richmond on October 13, 1864. Seven men were wounded in this affair, none fatally.
       The seven men wounded at Darbytown Road were: Sgt. Charles Eckels (Company E), Corp. Nicholas Derbins (F), Pvts. David Baker (B), Milton F. Bradley (I), Jacob Huffman (F), Samuel E. Johnson (I), and George Rodeback (C). 

         The reduced 85th Pennsylvania was involved in two more fights during the last week of the war, at Rice's Station and Appomattox (see map below), but the author could find no documentation that any member of the regiment was killed or wounded in either fight. So Davis does indeed appear to be the last man in the regiment to suffer a wound or death on the battlefield.

Last 3 Days of Lee's Retreat to Appomattox, VA
85th PA was part of  the Army of the James [ORD] 
Map by Hal Jespersen
www.cwmaps.com

            *NOTE: It has always puzzled the author why the 85th Pennsylvania did not suffer more casualties at Fort Gregg. The 199th Pennsylvania from Philadelphia, engaging in their first battle since joining Osborn's Brigade, suffered ten deaths. The 39th Illinois, also in the brigade, suffered 12 men killed and 31 wounded. Davis was the only soldier in the 85th PA to be killed or wounded while being in the thick of the fight.
           Granted, these regiment were larger that the 85th Pennsylvania at the time. Nonetheless, considering that all of these regiments (along with the 62nd Ohio and 67th Ohio) made the first charge upon Fort Gregg simultaneously, wouldn't one expect to find more losses in the 85th Pennsylvania?