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.

        

   

Stories from Company B

       

        The title of this article is from a pamphlet written in 1903 to celebrate Memorial Day in Amity, a small community in Washington County, Pennsylvania. While doing research for my book, "Such Severe and Hard Service: The 85th Pennsylvania in the Civil War," I came across an online reference to this booklet. Margaret Farrabee of Amity generously emailed me a copy, and I was able to use several citations for my book.

      The booklet was written early in the 20th century by 66-year old Manaen Sharp, who had served im Company B of the 85th Pennsylvania regiment. Sharp spent a year with the 85th before receiving a medical discharge. After the war, Sharp became a successful business man who owned furniture stores in Amity, Beallsville, and Little Washington, all in Washington County. He also served for a time as county treasurer. He died in 1920 at the age of 82 and is buried in Little Washington. His 1903 booklet chronicled the Civil War service of residents from the Amity area.

       Sharp wrote a paragraph or two about 40 or so soldiers from Amity and the surrounding area, including several from his own Company B of the 85th. [Sharp also included soldiers from other regiments, including the 140th Pennsylvania, the 22nd Pennsylvania Cavalry, and the 1st West Virginia Cavalry]. In doing so, Sharp recounts a series of interesting stories about many of the soldiers. Undoubtedly, Sharp was present for at least some of the events he described. In other cases, he surely heard the stories as they were passed around the campfire. Some others he learned about after the war, perhaps at regimental reunions. Below, I have quoted Sharp [in italics] concerning several members of his company.

     I have included some of my own comments in red.

LOC

CHRISTOPHER ANDERSON: At the battle of Fair Oaks, while aiming his gun, it was hit between his hands and disabled. He reached for the gun of a dead comrade and used it to good purpose.

Anderson returned home from the war. He died in 1877 and is buried in the Lone Pine Cemetery in Amity. 

Burying the Dead at Seven Pines
Harper's Weekly 7-19-1862

WILLIAM BRADEN: When driven back at Fair Oaks [Seven Pines], Comrade Braden was helping to carry his wounded captain [George H. Hooker] to save him from capture. The comrade, J.F. Speer of Canonsburg who was assisting, heard the sickening thud of a minie ball strike Comrade Braden, who said, 'I am hit.' He staggered to the road side and that is all that is known. He is buried among the unknown, but where? 

This story is confirmed by Captain Hooker, who wrote a letter in the pension file for Braden's widow, Nancy. “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 [Seven Pines] Virginia on the 31st day of May, 1862. He fell severely wounded and is supposed to have died from the effects of his wound.” 

Camp on Morris Island
Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper

CYRUS [JOSIAH] BRATTON: His grave is on Morris Island, S.C....The autumn of 1863, he was excused from duty on account of sickness, but stayed in his quarters; his discharge papers were signed and with high hopes he expected to start for home in the morning. His messmate got breakfast and went to awaken him and found him in the sleep that knows no waking.

Bratton died of chronic diarrhea at age 25. 

JOHN CLAYTON: He was mortally wounded at Deep Bottom and taken to the hospital at Fortress Monroe where he died and is buried in the cemetery at the fort. At the Battle of Kingston [Kinston, NC] in loading his piece, he spilled the powder but rammed the bullet. He sat down where he stood in the battle line, unbreeched his gun, took out the ball, put his piece together, reloaded, putting in both balls with the remark, 'I will try and ring two of them this time.'

Clayton died from a gunshot wound to the thigh. He is buried in Hampton National Cemetery.

Attack Route Upon Battery Gregg
Robert Knox Sneden  LOC

LEONARD HAMMERS: In his performance of duty he had many narrow escape[s]. Only once did he lose hope -- that was when with others he was ordered to Morris Island to spike the guns of Battery Gregg. this battery could be swept by every fort in the harbor defences of Charleston. When they tied a strip of white on the left arm of this detail, so as to distinguish them from the Confederates in the darkness, hope left him but courage never. When the rebel guard discovered them and gave the alarm, the marines manning the boats refused to land, so the attack was not made.

Hammers enlisted at age 17. His first child was born while he was away in the army. He and his wife, Charlotte, had five more children after the war. He died in 1904 and is buried in Amity. I wrote about the attempts to take Battery Gregg here.

Wounded Soldiers at Savage Station
1862    LOC

ABRAHAM IAMS: This young man took my place in the center of Co. B when I was taken to the hospital. He was mortally wounded at Fair Oaks, shot through the right breast and lay on the battlefield from Saturday afternoon until Monday afternoon when he was taken back to Savage Station. At 2 a.m. the next morning, in a down pour of rain, Robert Bair [James Robison Bair] put him on a train for White House [Landing, VA] where he died and is buried.

Corporal Iams was killed at the age of 25. He was survived by his parents, William and Delila, and his sister, Rachel.

Unidentified Soldier    LOC

DANIEL MILLER: Was badly wounded at Deep Bottom and was sent to the rear for repairs, [then] turned up in the hospital in New York. An order came to the effect that all soldiers who could walk to the railroad train would get furloughed. A comrade, James F. Speer, made him a pair of crutches. On these he started for the train, but had to rest many times before reaching it; but when seated in a comfortable car, contentment was seen all over his jolly face.

  Miller died in 1914 at age 78 and is buried at Amwell, PA. 

Kinston Swamp
45th Massachusetts Reunion 1887

DAVID MILLER: Was slightly wounded on the first and also on the second day at Fair Oaks. At Kinston, while charging through a swamp [left] , he was badly hurt and was helped to solid ground by a comrade who, examining his wound found the ball had passed through a deck of playing cards and buried itself in his side. He died about 1898.

I wrote an article about Miller on this blog which can be found here. Sharp's observation about Miller being wounded on the second day at Seven Pines [Fair Oaks] is interesting because his regiment had been sent to the rear and had not been actively engaged in the fight that day.

Henry T. Reynolds

HENRY TAYLOR REYNOLDS: Was killed June 14, 1864 near Richmond, Va. His body fell into the hands of the Confederates and was not recovered. He had a presentiment that he would not live out his time. A short time before he was killed, he applied for and obtained leave of absence to visit his old parents, as he believed, for the last time.

This story is confirmed by Oscar Lyons of Company B. I have included Reynolds' story in Volume II of my regimental history. Lyons wrote, "The boys tried to cheer him (Taylor) up, but the thought in his mind that he was soon to be killed could not be removed. On the 17th of June, we were in the rifle pits near Petersburg, on the North side of the Appomattox River... Many times through the day, Comrade Reynolds said he felt that his time had come; that he would never again see home or friends, for something told him that he was going to be killed."

Bridge over Chickahominy River
LOC

JAMES SMITH: At the change of base by McClellan's army on the Peninsula it was necessary to destroy a bridge over the Chickahominy river. The engineers had failed to destroy it because of a hot fire from the rebel side. An appeal was made to men in the line. Comrade Smith was one to respond for this important but dangerous work. They destroyed the bridge, checking Stonewall Jackson's flank movement.

Smith attended the last reunion of the regiment in Brownsville, Fayette County in 1928. He died in 1930 at the age of 88. 

Moses Smith

MOSES SMITH: Served his full term but had the misfortune to serve the latter part of it in Andersonville prison. Comparatively few survived this prison life. He was wounded at Kinston Bridge, the ball first striking his gun glancing into his leg. At Bermuda Hundred, an old tobacco barns stood close to the rebel line and was used by the rebel sharpshooters. Comrade Smith and Dave Miller crawled to this barn and set it on fire, completely destroying it. 

Moses Smith was the cousin of James Smith. He was captured at Ware Bottom Church, Virginia on June 16, 1864 with two other members of the regiment while on picket duty. He survived Andersonville and lived until 1924.

Hewitt's Cemetery
Rices' Landing, PA

SAMUEL WALTON: At Wier's [Ware] Bottom Church, while on picket duty, he was approached by a large grizzly unkempt rebel. Sam supposed he was coming in to surrender, as many of them at that time were doing, and was learning against a tree waiting to receive him. Imagine his surprise when the Johnnie fired, the ball striking the bark of the tree near his head, pieces of the bark stinging his face and neck. Comrade Walton did his duty at once. The rebel tried to reload his gun at once. The rebel tried to reload his gun after he was down and fatally wounded. 

 Walton enlisted as a private before being promoted to commissary sergeant.  He spent most of his postwar life in Greene County. He was involved in the lumber business and was the proprietor of S.M. Walton and Sons. He died in 1914 and is buried in Rices Landing, Greene County.     

          

           

The Lucky Card Player

Playing Cards in Camp
LOC

       It was common for Civil War soldiers to toss away certain items just before going into battle. Dice, playing cards and pipes were often flipped away along the road or the brush while marching towards a fray. If a soldier were killed in battle, his personal belongings would be sent home to his family; many soldiers did not want their mothers to know that they had engaged in such habits as gambling or smoking.
       Corporal David Miller of Company B of the 85th Pennsylvania apparently did not hold such assumptions about his deck of cards. Perhaps he did use them to gamble. Maybe he thought he would be spared from injury or death. It could have been that his mother was no longer living. Or perhaps he just did not care. In any event, his decision to keep his cards may have saved his life.
      The 34-year old Miller, at the time a resident of Washington County, had already been wounded once, in the side and in the hand, at the Battle of Seven Pines in Virginia on May 31, 1862 when his deck of cards became a lifesaver. During this battle, about 75 men of his regiment suffered wounds, and about 25 died. Miller recovered and continued his service with his regiment.
     Six months later, in December of 1862, the 85th Pennsylvania was sent to New Bern, North Carolina to become part of the Goldsboro Expedition. This two-week mission, led by General John G. Foster, was tasked with disrupting the Confederate railroad center at Goldsboro sixty miles to the west and to interrupt the supply line for Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia.

Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the Battle of Kinston
Reunion of the 45th Massachusetts Regiment
December 14, 1887
Post by Jason Tomberlin

     Foster's 10,000-man force was on their way to Goldsboro when they received word of the disastrous Union loss at Fredericksburg, Virginia.
    It is unclear whether or not Foster's goal was to simply stop supplies from reaching Lee (which did not matter now that the Fredericksburg battle had been fought) or whether he was to capture and occupy Goldsboro. With the federal army already badly defeated at Fredericksburg, the threat loomed of Confederate reinforcements being sent from northern Virginia to assist General Nathan "Shanks" Evans and his undermanned troops in North Carolina against Foster's command,
       Foster altered his plan. Staying in Goldsboro, he determined, was now out of the question. He decided he had time to march on to Goldsboro, destroy a railroad bridge and safely return to New Bern before Confederate reinforcements could arrive.
        On their way to Goldsboro, the 85th Pennsylvania was involved in two engagements in and around Kinston, At Southwest Creek, four miles south of the city, Companies B (including Miller) and D of the 85th Pennsylvania were sent, along with the 9th New Jersey, to force an opening through a thin Confederate artillery position. Both Union regiments made it across the creek at separate locations, gaining a pathway for Foster's force to continue on to Kinston.
     The next day, the 85th Pennsylvania as part of Henry Wessells' Brigade, slogged through a thinly  guarded swamp southeast of city towards the Kinston Bridge that spanned the Neuse River. This is where Miller's deck of cards came into play.

From a Kinston, NC Historical Marker
The yellow circle shows the position of  the 85th PA

       While part of Foster's force marched up the road towards the bridge from the south (the left of the picture below), the 85th Pennsylvania advanced towards the bridge from the southwest through the swamp (top left of the picture).

Kinston Bridge across the Neuse River
Harper's Weekly

      In this part of the assault, the 85th Pennsylvania and their brigade were slowed by the chest-deep waters. Confederate sniper fire also made the passage difficult. The Union troops were slowed by trying to advance through the water. On the other hand, as one member of the 85th Pennsylvania later commented, with the lower two-thirds of their bodies in water, the Confederates had less of a target to shoot at.
      During this advance, Sergeant Miller was struck. Nearly four decades later 85th veteran Manaen Sharp wrote a brief tract about veterans in the area around Amity, PA in Washington County.
      Of Miller, Corporal Sharp wrote,  "At Kingston [sic] while charging through a swamp he [MIller] was badly hurt and helped to solid ground by a comrade, who, examining his wound, found the ball had passed through a deck of playing cards and buried itself in his side." [Sharp, Amity in the Great American Conflict, p. 24]

         How badly was Miller wounded? Records are inconclusive.  Historian Luther Dickey, in his 1915 history of the 85th Pennsylvania, listed the names of the three soldiers from the regiment killed on the expedition but not the names of  five more who were wounded along the way. Miller may or may not have been one of these five. A later biographical sketch noted that Miller was treated for his wound in a field hospital. [Presidents, Soldiers and Statesmen, 1894, p. 1263]
        Miller either marched or rode the sixty miles back to the Union base at New Bern. The regiment stayed there for six weeks through the end of January before being transported to St. Helena Island, South Carolina. Their next military movement was not until April of 1863 when they launched an invasion of Folly Island, South Carolina.  This gave Corporal Miller four months to recover and rejoin his regiment.
        Miller stayed with his regiment for the next 18 months, finishing his three-year enlistment in November of 1864. 
       Later, in the 1890 Veteran Schedule, a special census of Union Civil War veterans which detailed their service and physical conditions, no mention was made of Miller having suffered from a permanent wound at Kinston.
        Miller lived in Jefferson, PA in Greene County at the time of the Veteran Schedule. No record of his burial could be found in either Greene or Washington Counties. Was Miller a gambler and/or did he continue his card-playing habit following the war? Suffice to say, he may have made his best gamble of his by keeping his cards close at hand at Kinston in 1862.

Lieutenant Norman Bruce Ream

 

Norman Bruce Ream
From Dickey's History of the 85th Pennsylvania Infantry

       Undoubtedly, in the decades following the Civil War, the two most prominent former members of the 85th Pennsylvania were Robert P. Hughes and Norman B. Ream. Hughes, who stayed in the army and rose to the rank of general,  was featured in an earlier post on this site. The current post will focus on the remarkable war and postwar careers of Ream.
       Ream was 17 years old when he enlisted into Company H in 1861 from Harnedsville, Somerset County. Prior to enlisting, he worked as a teacher and photographer. While serving as a young sergeant, Ream rallied his troops during an assault on Kinston, North Carolina in December of 1862, earning a promotion to lieutenant. The 19-year old Ream may have been the youngest private-to-first-lieutenant promotion in the Union army during the war.
       Ream was severely wounded by a bullet through his thigh during an assault on Whitemarsh Island near Savannah, GA in February of 1864. Ream's avoided capture when he was dragged to safety by his cousin, Lt. Ross Sanner of Company H.

Ross Sanner, Company H
U.S. Army Education and Heritage Center

          Ream returned to the regiment and was wounded in the right leg in the Battle of Ware Bottom Church during the Bermuda Hundred Campaign south of Richmond, VA in June of 1864. Due to his wounds, he received a discharge on the last day of August, 1864.
     [At the bottom of this page is a 1914 article in which Ream discusses a horrific night on Morris Island, near Charleston, South Carolina, 50 years earlier when his company was devastated by a single shell during trench operations].
      Following the war, Ream began a remarkable career in business that enabled him to become one of the leading industrialists in the nation, sometimes mentioned in the same class of mega-business leaders  as J.P. Morgan, Andrew Carnegie and George Pullman.  Ream first moved to Illinois and began an mercantile business. He soon relocated to Iowa and operated a grain and livestock business. By 1875, he continued in the livestock business in Chicago and became a member of the city's Board of Trade. His career in business skyrocketed in the next few decades.
      One of his largest ventures was to help form the National Biscuit Company (Nabisco). He was also involved in the Pullman Railroad Company, U.S. Steel, and the B&O Railroad.
      One newspaper article credited him with the concept of the modern skyscraper.  He was apparently riding on a train over a steel bridge on his way to Denver for a vacation. The article continued, "Sitting there alone he figured it out thus: Here is this heavy train supported over a raging river by

Ream in 1912
       LOC

this structure laid on its side. Stood on end the structure would be the safest kind of construction for a building. The idea was so refreshing he mulled it over all the way to Denver and the first thing he did on arrival there was to write to a leading architect of Chicago, directing him to draw plans for such a building and he prepared to discuss them on his return.
        “‘The Rookery’ was the result, and the result of the Rookery has made a profound change in the architecture of the great cities of the world." Even with Mr. Ream’s backing, trouble was encountered getting people to occupy the higher floors. The first eight floors rented quickly but for weeks nobody would venture above that. Mr. Ream took offices on the top floor and everybody wanting to see him was compelled to go to the top of the building. Finally the nervousness wore off and –well, there’s the Woolworth building."

        Ream made a publicized (in western Pennsylvania) visit to a reunion of the 85th PA in 1909 in Uniontown. It was the first time he had attended a regimental reunion since 1875 at Brownsville, Fayette County. He arrived on a private train car of the B & O Railroad. He spent several days in the area, and was feted at a dinner in Confluence, not far from his hometown of Harnedsville. While there, he discovered  that the town was raising funds to build a new church. Ream pledged money towards the entire construction effort of  the church, some $25,000.    
         Soon thereafter, he organized a meeting of several prominent veterans of his former regiment for the writing and publication of an extensive history of the unit. After a meeting as his Connecticut mansion, historian Luther S. Dickey was hired to write the book. This official history of the 85th Pennsylvania was published in 1915, with Ream providing a free copy to every living veteran.

        Ream did not live to see the regiment's  history in print. He died several months before it was published. One of the pallbearers for his funeral was Robert Lincoln, son of the president. Ream was buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery in New York City. He was reported as one of the 25 wealthiest men in the country at the time of his death, having amassed a fortune of around 50 million dollars. 
        This Missouri news article shortly after his death related this story about his first venture into business: “In Harnedsville, Pa., where Norman B. Ream was born and where he passed his boyhood, a neighbor of the Ream family had a flock of ducks. One of the ducks had ventured too far from the water, had become entangled in a crack in the floor of the corn crib and had broken his leg. Under ordinary circumstances, this would have meant that the duck was started on the way to the dinner table, but Norman Ream, eight years old, bargained with the owner for the duck, bought the injured fowl with the pennies he had saved, splintered the broken leg, fattened the fowl, and sold him at a profit.” [Springfield Republican, February 21, 1915, p.8]

          A recent biography of Ream was published in 2012 by Paul Ryscavage. It is entitled, "Norman B. Ream: Forgotten Master of Markets."
    Several web pages offer more information  and pictures on the life of Norman Bruce Ream. They can be found here and here.

Kansas City Journal
October 20, 1898

Pittsburgh Post Gazette
August 3, 1914
Ream describes a terrifying night on Morris Island, SC

Map of Southwest Creek near Kinston, NC

         The Historical Preservation Group of Kinston, North Carolina, has kindly allowed me to post this battle map of Southwest Creek. A fight occurred here on December 13, 1862 in which the 85th Pennsylvania played a key role.
          Two days earlier, the 85th Pennsylvania had marched out of New Bern as part of General John G. Foster's combined strike force of 12,000 troops. Their goal was to march from the North Carolina coast to Goldsboro, a key Confederate railroad hub, destroy a railroad bridge and possibly occupy the city. Their intention was to disrupt the supply line from Wilmington, NC to Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia on the eve of the battle of Fredericksburg, VA. A chapter in my history of the 85th Pennsylvania, "Such Hard and Severe Service" (published by Monongahela Books) is dedicated to this two-week, 180-mile expedition.
          The 85th Pennsylvania was still smarting from the Battle of Seven Pines (VA) six months

General John G. Foster   LOC

earlier. They had fought hard, and delayed a large attacking Confederate force before retreating, only to learn that General George B. McClellan had publicly disparaged them for their eventual retreat in the face of an overwhelming enemy.
         Anxious to restore their battered reputation, companies B and D of the 85th Pennsylvania along with the 9th New Jersey were responsible for defeating a Confederate battery guarding Southwest Creek a few miles south of Kinston, which was on the way to Goldsboro.
        As can be seen in the map, the 85th Pennsylvania advanced through a swampy area across the creek from the right flank south of the creek while the 9th New Jersey scurried across the creek over an unguarded milldam to the left. This victory set the stage the next day for the First Battle of Kinston. In this engagement, the 85th Pennsylvania swept through an unguarded swamp, distracting the thin Confederate defensive line and allowing other Union regiments to capture the bridge.
        Foster's force continued to Goldsboro and destroyed the railroad bridge, but beat a hasty retreat back to New Bern when word came of the Union's disastrous defeat at Fredericksburg.
       Nonetheless, the 85th Pennsylvania, due to their roles at Southwest Creek and Kinston, felt their honor had been restored by their performance. Their losses were three men killed --Pvt. Thomas Cox (Company C) was killed instantly, while  Corp. Charles Pullin (H), and Pvt. Samuel Daniels (H) died the next month while hospitalized.