George Fisher's Centennial Birthday

          The longest living member of the 85th Pennsylvania regiment was William Mahaney of Company C. Mahaney enlisted into the regiment as a 17-year old in 1861 and died in 1944 at the age of 99, several months shy of his 100th birthday.
       

Lincoln (NE) Star
1-26-1938

The second-longest living soldier in the regiment, the subject of this article, was Corporal George Fisher of Company E. Fisher was 23 when he joined the regiment and died at the age of 100 in Nebraska in 1938.
        About three months prior to his death, a local newspaper in Beatrice, Nebraska wrote an article in celebration of Fisher's 100th birthday. Although intended to be celebratory in nature, the article is a mixture of fact and fiction with somewhat dubious information relating to Fisher's service in the Civil War. Since he was likely the main source for the details of the story, Fisher seems to have misremembered or exaggerated some of the events. Colored by the passage of time, Fisher's remembrances and perhaps some information provided by his children and grandchildren resembled but did not accurately reflect past events.

       This is not meant to disparage a 100-year old man who honorably served his country for three years. It is meant as a warning that obituaries and articles such as this one are not always 100% accurate.
        The article states that Fisher, born in Germany, came to this country alone at the age of 15. After having what little money he had stolen from a hotel room in New York City, the article states that he "walked to Uniontown, PA and got a farm job which he kept 22 years except for time spent in the service of the Union army during the Civil War."
      As a reader, I would like to know what motivated Fisher to "walk" to Uniontown. The distance is over 300 miles and it seems that Fisher could have found work as a farm laborer much closer to New York City.
         The article continues on that, "He [Fisher] enrolled as a private in Co. 'E,' 85th Pennsylvania infantry in September, 1861. He was mustered into service on November 12, 1861 for a three-year enlistment and on August 27, 1863, was wounded by the explosion of an enemy shell."
     

Bombproof in Trench on Morris Island    LOC

          This account of Fisher's wounding is probably correct. In his comprehensive 1915 history of the regiment, historian Luther S. Dickey notes that Company E (Fisher's company) was in the trenches for digging duties near Fort Wagner on Morris Island on the night of August 27, 1863. Several members of Company E were killed by a shell explosion, including John H. Linn and Joseph Neely. Three other soldiers (William Marquis, Henry J. Ridgen and John I. White) later died of wounds suffered in this explosion.
        Although Fisher is not mentioned by name, Dickey writes that the explosion caused "more than a dozen casualties."
        The article continues "Fisher served with Generals Grant and McClellan and fought in the battles of Williamsburg, Charleston, Deep Bottom, Cold Harbor and others."
       There are several issues with this observation. The 85th Pennsylvania did not do much "fighting" at Williamsburg in May of 1862 during the Peninsula Campaign.  The divisions of Joseph Hooker and Phillip Kearney did  most of the fighting for the Union side. The 85th Pennsylvania formed a line and may have gotten off a volley or two into an unseen enemy beyond the tree line. And they were shelled by Confederate artillery. But for the most part they remained in formation and did not advance towards the battle. However, the 85th Pennsylvania did experience hard fighting at Charleston and (Second) Deep Bottom.

        The sentence also states that Fisher (and his regiment) served under Ulysses S. Grant and George B. McClellan. The 85th Pennsylvania assuredly served under McClellan's command during the Peninsula Campaign in Virginia in 1862. But they were never under Grant's direct command, either in the western theater or during the Overland Campaign of 1864. Technically, with Grant in command of the overall Union strategy beginning in March of 1864, every soldier in the Union army served under Grant. But in 1864, while Grant pushed towards Richmond with the Army of the Potomac, the 85th Pennsylvania was in the Army of the James under General Benjamin Butler and later under General Edward O.C. Ord.

        Grant did briefly accompany the Army of the James for part of the pursuit of the Army of Northern Virginia from the Petersburg front to Appomattox in April of 1865, a campaign that culminated with Robert E. Lee's surrender. 
       

LOC

The centennial article then states, "He [Fisher] helped construct the 'Swamp Angel,' a masked battery with which the Union army shelled Charleston...."
          This may have occurred. The regiment was stationed in the interior of Morris Island during the late summer of 1863 when the  Marsh Battery or Swamp Angel battery was under construction. It took much manpower to carry 13,000 sandbags to the site. The Swamp Angel was constructed between James and Morris Islands near Charleston, SC in July and August of 1863. The Swamp Angel floated on hundreds of sandbags (on top of 20 feet of mud), which soldiers carried over wooden planks to the marsh. On August 22, the Swamp Angel began an incendiary bombardment of Charleston, which continued until the 36th shot shattered its breech. 

         A problem here is that the 85th Pennsylvania was heavily involved in another Union effort at the time. Following the failed second assault on Fort Wagner on July 18 led by the black troops of the 54th Massachusetts, the next stage was unglamorous: the digging of a series of trenches or parallels to threaten the sand-walled battery. Along with the 100th New York and 3rd New Hampshire, the 85th Pennsylvania devoted almost all of their efforts in the month of August to this endeavor. Dickey's history of the regiment cites the diary of Commissary Sergeant John B. Bell for a day-to-day account of the regiment at this time. There are numerous references to "fatigue duty at the front," "completed seaward battery at third parallel," and the like, but no direct reference to constructing the Swamp Angel. 

           In his entry for August 17, Bell does state, "Regiment....moved to the front and during the day was engaged at fatigue duty filling gabions to strengthen the fortifications. Marsh Battery was completed ready for mounting guns."
           Next in the obituary,  the following reference is problematical. "...[Fisher] saw the battle of the

LOC

Monitor and the Merrimac."
          This could not have occurred. The battle of ironclads took place on March 8-9, 1862. The 85th Pennsylvania did not arrive at Hampton Roads for the Peninsula Campaign until three weeks later on April 1. Yes, several soldiers in the regiment wrote of seeing the Monitor in the waters around Fort Monroe as their ship came in for docking. At another time, the Merrimac was spotted when they were camped near Hampton, VA. But the ironclad battle itself was not witnessed by Fisher or anyone else in the regiment.

        The article concludes with the statement that, "A Republican, the aged man cast his first vote for president for a candidate with whom he shook hands several times, Abraham Lincoln."

         It is possible that Fisher met Lincoln face to face, but to have shaken hands with the president more that once seems to be a stretch. First of all, several soldiers from the regiment claim to have encountered  Lincoln when they were posted near Washington, DC during the winter of 1861-62. When they had free time, the men would often tour the capital city and several wrote that they talked to the president while walking the streets of Washington. 

         Lincoln then crossed paths with the regiment when Lincoln reviewed the entire Army of Northern Virginia in early July of 1862 at Harrison's Landing,VA. Finally, Lincoln was present at City Point,VA on March 25, 1865 and reviewed Union troops, including what may have included some in the 85th Pennsylvania. But Fisher had completed his three-year enlistment and had gone home the previous November.
           Fisher and his wife, Martha Rockwell Fisher from Uniontown, spent the last six decades of his life in York County, Nebraska. He passed away on January 23, 1938, three months after his one-hundredth birthday.     

Letter from Lt. William T. Campbell, Co. F

Map of Southwestern part of Washington, DC
Fort Good Hope was renamed Fort "Wagner" in 1862

         The following article from 1945 appeared in a Fayette County, PA newspaper. It was written by 19-year old Lt. William Thomas Campbell of Company K, 85^th PA, from Fort Good Hope to his sister in 1861. Campbell served in Company K with his two brothers, John and James. 
       Fort Good Hope was located on the southern side of the eastern branch of the Potomac River and was the home of the 85^th PA from December, 1861 to March, 1862. The men of the regiment helped build this structure, one of 68 forts constructed to protect the nation’s capital after the disastrous loss at Bull Run in the summer of 1861. The site Fort Good Hope is today the home of Stanton Elementary School.

     In his letter, Campbell mentions seeing an aerial balloon on a reconnaissance mission over Washington. This may be a balloon of Professor Thaddeus Lowe that flew from Budds Ferry in Maryland, across the Potomac River from the present-day Quantico Marine Base. However, the balloon might also have been one flown by aerialist John LaMountain, whose balloon was spotted in December in the vicinity of Alexandria, VA, about four miles from Fort Good Hope.

[Connellsville (PA) Daily Courier, November 16, 1945, p.12]

“Sword and Letter Recall Incidents of Civil War”

            A prized possession of memories of the family of the late George W. Campbell of Normalville and Connellsville is the sword of Mr. Campbell’s brother, Lieutenant William T. Campbell, who was killed in the battle of [Second] Deep Bottom, Virginia, August 13, 1864. It reposes at the Campbell homestead in East Green Street. Members of the family are Dr. Clyde S. Campbell, Miss Rebekah Campbell, Miss Kathryn Campbell and Ben H. Campbell.

      A Conf. bullet struck Lieutenant Campbell over the heart, piercing it after severing the leather strap by which swords were then carried. In the soldier’s honor, the post of the Grand Army of the Republic at Springfield, now Normalville, was named William T. Campbell.

    Another relic of the Rebellion is the letter written by Lieutenant Campbell from Fort Good Hope, across the Potomac River from the National Capital, and directed to his sister Mary of Springfield. It is among the effects of Harry Hayden of Uniontown, an employee of the W. Penn System in Connellsville...

      The letter from the lieutenant to his sister, dated December 12, 1861, was written in the quaint style of long ago. It reads:

Balloon View of Washington, 1861, facing southwest.
Fort Good Hope would soon be built at the top left across the Eastern Branch
of the Potomac River. -- Library of Congress

Lieutenant William T. Campbell 

Company K

December 16, 1861

Fort Good Hope, DC

Dear Sister.

            I sit down to let you know that I am well and hope you are the same. I received a letter from father a few minutes ago and was glad to hear that you are all well. He said he was going to butcher the next day. I was glad to hear it and would like if you would send me about have of one of the backbones in your letter when you answer this.

            We are getting along fine. They boys are all well and enjoying themselves accordingly. Just finished our house today. It consists of three rounds of longs built up like a log house, chunked and daubed, and our tent sought [set] on top for a cover. The boys are all fixing up the same way for the winter. We have had no cold weather here like you had in the mountains. For the last week it has been so warm that I could no without my coat.

            We are still encamped about three miles from Washington, across the eastern branch of the Potomac, with two other regiments and are engaged in building a fort. From the fort you can see Washington city about as well from any place about the city. The regiment works by turns and more of us were out today but the whole regiment is going our tomorrow. When I was working on the fort day before yesterday I seen a balloon travelling through the air. It was on a reconnoitering expedition to see what the rebels are doing.

            I expect that we will stay here all winter and I would be glad if we would for it is a very pleasant place to stay and we got plenty to eat and plenty to cover to keep warm. Mary, tell the girls to keep in good heart for we will be back some time and hope that we may see them all married to some of the soldiers that stayed home. We see a girl so seldom down here that it looks like the mountains about Springfield when we see one. We have not seen any ladies of any account since we left Pennsylvania except a few black ones that we seen at Baltimore, which consisted of about 500 that turned out to see us as we passed through the city.

            Mary, we are within three miles of Washington and can get no late news. Now I want you to send me the [Uniontown Evening] Standard every week after you read it. It will not cost you much, not more than a cent at a time, and when we get paid here which will not be longer than January I will send you enough money to satisfied you well for your trouble and a nice present.

             I don’t know that I have anything more to write at present but when you write let me know how all the people are getting along in the mountains. I wrote to Sam as soon as I arrived but have not received any answer yet. Give my love to Father and Mother and all the rest of the family and tell Father that I will answer his letter the first of next week.

                                                                Nothing more. Answer soon.

                                                               Your brother, W. T. Campbell