Michener, Bailey and Shallenberger in Captivity

        

Union Prisoners
    Tucker-Vaughn Papers

 

           Primary source materials regarding Captain John E. Michener of the 85th Pennsylvania have been abundant in the research of his regiment. Michener's Civil War letters and those of his family, provided by descendent Margaret Thompson, have offered a rich source of material. Michener also penned a few letters home that were published in local newspapers that proved to be excellent primary source material.

Harper's Weekly          February, 1862

    Michener was an effective, even admired officer who spent seven months in captivity in 1864. He was captured on Whitemarsh Island near Savannah on February 22, 1864 along with two other members of his regiment -- Sergeant James Bailey of Company K and Private Eli F. "Frank" Shallenberger of Company C.

       Although much is known about Michener's later captivity and release, little has been written about the early days and weeks of his imprisonment with Bailey and Shallenberger. A few Southern newspapers provided some details of their capture on Whitemarsh Island. Included in these stories are descriptions of their immediate capture; but much of these narrations were gloating about them falling into Confederate hands while the Union mission to Whitemarsh Island, Georgia ended in failure and quickly returned to Hilton Head, South Carolina. Union versions, meanwhile were just as one-sided; they ignored the failure of the mission on Whitemarsh to capture African American workers while emphasizing the capture of a dozen Confederate pickets.

      "Prison Life," the 1867 work by T.J. Simpson that is partially about Michener's time in captivity, is rich in details about these early days of imprisonment of Michener and his two comrades. Michener, through Simpson, related the story of  their interrogations, their time in Savannah, and then their transfer to various prisoner-of-war camps. Simpson made Michener a hero for misleading his captors about the strength of the invading Union force on Whitemarsh.

      Michener spent part of his imprisonment in Charleston, South Carolina. Shallenberger and Bailey meanwhile were both shipped to the infamous Andersonville prison in Georgia. They both technically survived. However, Bailey lived long enough only to be a part of a prison transfer. He died from malnutrition aboard a hospital ship on his way back to the North. Shallenberger was also greatly diminished by his time at Andersonville. But Shallenberger was released at the end of the war, recovered, and went home to Brownsville, PA where he became a prominent contractor and builder.. 

         "Soon after the capture of Captain Michener, a rebel brigade under the command of General [Raleigh] Colston arrived at the fort having been hurried forward with all possible haste. Halting his brigade for a moment, he sent his aid to interrogate Captain Michener. as to the strength of the Yankee forces on the island. The union forces under General [sic, Colonel Joshua B.] Howell, composing the entire expedition to the island, only numbered between five and six hundred; but the chivalrous rebel general somehow received the impression from Captain Michener that they exceeded five thousand in number, and thus was detained with his entire brigade until his scouts returned and reported that the small number of Yankees who had infested the island were embarking in their boats and then it was too late to pursue them. Had the rebels known our strength in time and thrown but one regiment over the bridge, and followed our hastily retreating forces, the whole command might have easily been captured; as it was, however, their escape was entirely due to the detention of the rebels by Captain Michener's answers to their interrogatories. But this ruse of Captain Michener's to save his friends from capture came near costing him his life, for the rage and chagrin of the rebels when they found how they had bee duped by that Yankee officer know no bounds. A reported of a Savannah paper who was present insisted they should hang Captain Michener from the nearest tree. While they were debating what disposition to make of him, another Union prisoner, [Eli] Frank Shellenberger, was brought in and their righteous indignation settle down into a holy calm. These three prisoners being guarded together, Captain Michener availed himself of the opportunity to post the other two so that their reports to the rebels might agree.

         "As the evening approached, the prisoners were marched to Savannah and were then on their first visit to the \city, generously furnished by the Southern chivalry with apartments in the jail. All along the road to Savannah they were treated by the soldiers and citizens to a continued series of compliments and encomiums, some of which it is true were of the rougher sort and none of which it is true were often falling from the ruddy but pouted lips of the lily-fingered beauties of the South, were a s palatable as would have been a little roast beef or boiled ham. But an inward consciousness of the glory they had achieved in that one hour's struggle and triumph caused them to receive the compliments, thus gratuitously bestowed  with a smile and to march to that prison with a prouder step than to a slaveholder's banquet or a rebel throne.

Left to Right: Andersonville, Macon and Savannah    LOC

           "At nine o'clock that evening, after their introduction to a somewhat narrow apartment in the city jail, the prisoners were invited to indulge in the luxury of a limited meal on corn mush, a favorite kind of provision with generous rebels to satisfy the appetites of hungry Yankees. Although the captain and his fellow prisoners had for the last 24 hours substituted rapid marches and hard fighting for the more agreeable pastime of eating, yet either because the invitation was rather cool, or the corn mush not sufficiently inviting, they respectfully declined the proffered kindness. During the night they were favored with the presence of a rebel sentinel, whole interest in these newcomers was such as to drive slumber from his eyelids and cause him to pace the room during the long an silent hours, with undeviating footsteps, much to the annoyance of the prisoners, who failing to appreciate his society, declined to admit him into their councils and hence conducted their interviews in a whisper.

       At six o'clock next morning this prisoners, with tired limbs and empty stomachs, issued from the jail in all the 'pomp of glorious war,' and falling into line, marched with measured step, not to the martial notes of fife and drum, but to the coarser music of taunts and sneers and mingled should of the chivalrous inhabitants of Savannah, who seemed anxious to give them a parting salute from the well filled magazine of their pent-up wrath, as the Yankees took their seats in an old ragged car, and bid them a final adieu. As the train moved off, the prisoners felt that, although not 'homeward bound,' they were bound for the seat of Southern chivalry and that they would be favored with a change of base at least in the great city of Charleston. 

Charleston Jail      LOC

          "Two days had now passed without anything to satisfy the cravings of hunger, and Captain Michener began to realized that there was something more than poetry in the fortunes of war. In his first lessons the romantic was mixed with the real, but now the real began to predominate, greatly to his annoyance. The trip to Charleston was performed without any violation of the rules of fasting which had been so rigidly observed and it was not an unwelcome thought that this pious operation would terminate with the journey. They reached the city as evening began to cast its lengthening shadows and although strangers in the place found no difficulty in procuring lodgings as previous arrangements had been made for their reception The equanimity of the city authorities was not seriously disturbed however with any extensive preparations for an ovation to the prisoners, on their arrival but a small procession, composed of a select few of the prominent officials headed by the provost marshal of the city quietly conducted them to their private apartment in the jail. And now, retired from the obtrusive gaze of the vulgar herd, a change of plate, well filled with the choicest provisions adapted to the appetite of an epicure, would not have been objectionable. But the virtue of abstemiousness had been so long and rigidly practised that it was feared the too liberal indulgence of the appetite might superinduce dyspepsia; therefore corn mush prepared in the latest style with a little hot water and no salt, was again sparingly furnished the prisoners. This the dictates of modesty and exhausted nature would not permit them as on a former occasion to decline; hence their first night in the city of Charleston was rendered memorable by a banquet on cold much in jail.

Savannah Jail     LOC

        "...On arriving at Macon, Georgia, Captain Michener and his two fellow prisoners who were captured with him on White Marsh Island, Corporal Bailey and Frank Shellenberger, were called to experience the pangs of separation, the captain being retained at Camp Oglethorpe, while they were sent on to Andersonville, that much-dreaded and fatal prison. As the train moved slowly off and the parting words fell from their lips, they but too plainly saw in each other's countenances the conviction that it was a last adieu as the sequel proved in the case of poor Bailey. Having reached Andersonville, he lingered amid pestilence and famine for six months and when the news of his exchange came, the last feeble energies of his nature rallied and enabled him to reach Charleston harbor on his way to his beloved home and family when in sight of his country's flag, with the flag-of-truce boat ready to receive him, he died, the victim of starvation in a land of strangers, leaving a wife and little ones to mourn his said and untimely end. His companion, Frank Shellenberger, scarcely less enfeebled and emaciated from the effects of starvation, finally succeeded in reaching his home, the mere wreck and skeleton of his former self -- a living witness of the barbarous treatment and unparalleled sufferings at Andersonville."

Andersonville Prison     LOC

NEXT: Michener is held prisoner in Macon, Georgia.

Prison Life of John E. Michener Overview

    

Captain John E. Michener
The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs:
 Print Collection, The New York Public Library

             My most recent post was about an escape attempt by Captain John E. Michener of the 85th Pennsylvania in 1864. It was told partly by Michener himself but mostly through the words of the Union prisoners with whom he attempted to flee. The post explored a letter to a newspaper that Michener wrote fifteen years after the escape in which he disputed a southerner's version of the use of dogs to track down slaves and escaped Union prisoners. The story of the escape and apprehension of Michener and his comrades was largely based on a postwar memoir by Captain John A. Kellogg of Wisconsin. Kellogg was one of the five Union officers who attempted to escape with Michener from a train bound from Georgia to Charleston, SC. 

       Michener had an account of his own war experiences published just after the Civil War, but I could not find a copy to review for this post.   Thanks to George Thompson, the memoir has been found on microfilm at the New York Public Library. A copy has since been obtained and reviewed.

       Based on the title of the Michener narrative, "Prison Life," I assumed that Michener's story would mainly be a first-person about his experiences in 1864. This includes the period in which he was captured on Whitemarsh Island near Savannah, GA to his release as part of a prisoner of war exchange ten months later. In the time in between those two events, Michener spent time in several Confederate prisons and tried to escape at least twice. 

       Surprisingly, just the last third of the 40-page chapter covered Michener's time in captivity. Furthermore, the Michener account ends while he was still in prison in Macon, GA. The daring escape attempt from the train bound for Charleston that was covered in my last blog was completely ignored in this treatment. It also omitted the last few months of his imprisonment as well as how he obtained his freedom. Why the overall work was entitled "Prison Life" is therefore a bit of a mystery.

       However, what "Prison Life" does provide is a rich story of Michener's war experiences from 1861 to mid-1864. Although not written in the first person, the account certainly includes heretofore unknown details about Michener's service.

        My next several posts will explore "Prison Life." In those posts, I intend to review what is known about the events concerning Michener and his regiment, the 85th Pennsylvania, and how Michener's memoir has enhanced our knowledge of these events. I will begin with the current post which will be an overview of Michener's brief tract.

      Although at first disappointed at what was not written about in Michener's story, I now believe that these omissions are not that great of a loss. We have Captain John A. Kellogg's detailed review of the escape attempt and capture from the Charleston-bound train. We further know many of the details of Michener's time in a Charleston prison from a postwar letter that he wrote. The last few months of his time in prison was covered in several brief newspaper accounts from the period as well as the details of his exchange in the official records of the war. 

      The first two-thirds of "Prison Life" covers Michener's service in the war, from the Peninsula Campaign, to Suffolk, VA and finally to the fight at Whitemarsh where he and two others from the 85th Pennsylvania regiment were captured. Although we have several letters from Michener's family that give details of these events, "Prison Life" adds substantially to the story.

      "Prison Life" appears to be intended as an opening chapter of a larger work to be written by T. J. Simpson. The title promised illustrations of various battlefields and implied there are more chapters to follow. But for some reason, the story of Michener seems to be the only one that reached publication. Michener and Simpson probably met in Washington, DC immediately after the war. During this period, Michener worked for the postal service and was involved in the creation of an organization for former Union prisoners. 

         It is curious as to why Michener simply did not pen the chapter in the first-person. Michener is virtually the sole source of Simpson's story. From letters that Michener wrote to his family as well as letters he penned to a few newspapers during the war, it is apparent that Michener could have been quite effective if he had provided a first-person account. Perhaps Simpson had better connections to get Michener's story into print.

       Simpson seems to have used Michener's thoughts and words almost exclusively to write the chapter. One exception is a story from sutler James Clark (for whom Michener's brother Ezra worked) that is recounted. Furthermore, Simpson included some speech portions from other captured officers are used at the end of the piece. But otherwise, the remembrances seem to be from Michener alone. 

      Simpson writes in his introduction that, "...each one [story of a former Union prisoner] has some peculiarities connected with his history worthy of note, and many facts and incidents of an interesting and thrilling character which render the separate history of each one necessary to a correct and comprehensive view of the whole. The plan adopted, therefore, is to write the history of each one separately in a clear, concise and comprehensive manner."

      Simpson went overboard in exalting Michener's accomplishments. It would have enhanced the chapter if Simpson had quoted other soldiers about Michener's deeds. A reader could easily assume that Simpson attempted to portray Michener as a super soldier, or even worse that Michener himself overinflated his experiences. Having read numerous other accounts by and about Michener, I do not believe it was Michener's idea to inflate his accomplishments. 

      During the Peninsula Campaign in Virginia in 1862, many men in the Union army became sick with various ailments including typhoid fever and other potentially deadly diseases. Simpson exalted Michener for assigning his black servant, likely a former slave, to care for the sick in the 85th Pennsylvania. By modern standards, Should Michener's so-called sacrifice in this instance be the object of such praise? Michener, wrote Simpson, "threw the coffee-cup, haversack, etc. over his shoulder, prepared his own food, washed his own clothes and cheerfully accepted the 'situation.'"  

        There is little doubt that Michener was extremely patriotic and highly regarded as an officer by the men in his regiment. As "Prison Life" showed, he was constantly put in charge of special assignments, a testament to his professionalism and reliability.  Michener wrote several personal and public letters during the war denouncing antiwar sentiments and encouraging the citizenry to continue to fight to preserve the Union.

    In late 1863, Michener wrote a letter to the Reporter and Tribune, a pro-war Republican newspaper in Washington, PA. Michener stated, "How do the Copperheads feel under the rebuke administered to them by the Union men on the 13th?...I believe your Southern sympathizers to be wickedly drunk to every feeling of loyalty or attachment to the United States Government. Their open treason, manifested by their cringing sympathy for the rebels; the vindictive spite with which they assail every friend of the Federal Government, and their opposition to a war prosecuted for the salvation and perpetuation of the Union is clear evidence of their infamous purposes, and wicked treason."

        During his more than two years in the 85th Pennsylvania, Michener was often chosen to lead special assignments, such as in two incidents highlighted in Simpson's memoir; namely to shuttle prisoners and deserters aboard a schooner and being in charge of the barge that shuttled the 54th Massachusetts to Morris Island, SC for their historic charge against Fort Wagner. 

        Michener was also involved in leading men on special missions into battle, such as the assault on Battery Gregg on Morris Island and the attempt to capture a key bridge during the assault against Whitemarsh Island, GA where he was captured.

     In this event, he made sure that all of his men had the chance to escape back to their transports, and was only captured because he was the last man to attempt to re-cross the bridge back to safety.

    The best part of Michener's story is the account of his capture and the many privations suffered in prison. These evens as well as his time in the regiment prior to his capture will be explored in my next several posts in the order in which they occurred.

      

Captain John E. Michener's Escape Attempt

         In my soon-to-be published Volume II history of the 85th Pennsylvania regiment, one chapter is devoted to the capture of Captain John E. Michener of Company K. Michener began the war as a lieutenant in Company D, the unit that included my great grandfather and his brother. 

        Michener participated in the Battle of Seven Pines (VA) in 1862 and siege operations around Charleston, SC in 1863. In early 1864, he was promoted to captain of Company K. But in February of 1864, Michener was taken prisoner along with two other members of his regiment on Whitemarsh Island near Savannah, GA and held in captivity by the Confederates for ten months before being exchanged.

   

Captain John E. Michener, 85th PA
Courtesy of Ron Coddington and
Military Images magazine

          I  wrote of Michener's period of captivity for Military Images magazine in an article entitled, "Following the Torn and Blood-Stained Colors: John Michener's Civil War Odyssey." The author is grateful to Michener descendant Margaret Thompson for providing family letters that were written that form the basis of above article as well as the chapter of my book.

      Shortly after the war, Michener wrote a brief publication about his time in prison. So far, the author has been unable to find Michener's work, entitled, "Prison Life: Capt. J.E. Michener of Co. D, 85th Pa. Vols." (Michener's former regimental comrade, Sergeant James E. Sayers of Company F, later owned a newspaper in Waynesburg, Greene County and  mentioned Michener's work in an 1867 article.)

       While researching the regiment, the author came across a letter written by Michener that appeared in a Pennsylvania newspaper in late 1879. Michener's letter was in response to an event that made national news; a South Carolinian names Thomas J. Butler travelled to New York City for a series of paid demonstrations in which his trained dogs were used to capture fugitive slaves and later escaped Union prisoners during the Civil War. Michener's newspaper letter was a response to this Butler's comments. More on that later.

Map showing Macon and Charleston
The "X" is the approximate location of the escape

           In his 1879 letter, Michener disclosed a wartime escape attempt from a train by himself and five other Union officers whom he lists by surname. The author was able to identify two of these fellow officers: Colonel John Azor Kellogg of the 6th Wisconsin and Navy Paymaster Luther Guiteau Billings. Billings was later promoted to read admiral and in a 20th century news article, gave a brief summary of the escape attempt. [the other three escapees were described by Michener as Ensign Stoner of New York, Ensign Smith who later settled in Washington, DC, and Lieutenant Brooks, who became an editor with the National Republican newspaper in Washington, DC]

       Colonel Kellogg wrote a detailed summary of the escape attempt that he entitled, "Capture and Escape: A Narrative of Army and Prison Life." . It was published in 1908, twenty-five years after Kellogg's death. 

             Michener briefly described the escape in his 1879 letter, "During the night of the 27th of July, 1864, me and several hundred of my brother officers were being transported from Macon, Ga., to Charleston, S.C.,, and escaped to the swamp, through which we hardly thought an alligator could have followed us. Late in the afternoon of the second day, however, we heard the deep baying of dogs which we held off with stout clubs until the two fiendish owners had called them off."  [Pittsburgh Commercial, reprinted in the Lancaster (PA), Examiner, November 5, 1879, page 5]

Rear Admiral Luther G. Billings
Baltimore Sun, 2-17-1918

       In his equally short version for an interview more than 50 years later, Luther Billings remembered, "Once during my imprisonment, with some other men, I managed to break out and we headed toward the coast, hoping to reach the Union fleet. we came to a swamp three miles wide and struggled through it, swimming, wading through mud, dodging snakes, and when, after five hours' toll, we got through, we were captured by a posse of Confederates with hounds." [Baltimore Sun, February 17, 1918, page 46]

        Then in October of 1879, John Thomas Butler of Hamburg, SC, travelled to New York City with his pack of dogs for the purpose of demonstrating how the animals were used to track down fugitive slaves. Butler's expressed purpose, in addition to making money from the exhibition, was to show people in the North that the process of capturing fugitives was relatively humane and that the purpose of the dogs was to track runaways, not attack them.

       Said Butler, "I wanted to travel a little and brought these dogs along to pay my expenses and to show you all at the north that we are not quite as bad as we are said to be."

         Another New York newspaper quoted Butler at stating: "Slave-tracking has been ever since I remember a great business in the South. Slaves going over fences and through swamps for more than 300 miles have been successfully pursued by these hounds, but they are all trained to a nicety and never will do harm except by order of their master." [from the New York Herald, October 5, 1879]

        [Butler was evasive when asked if he had used his dogs or otherwise taken part in the so-called Hamburg (SC) Massacre in in 1876. In this event, six blacks and one white were killed. Four of the deceased blacks were hanged. A group of about 200 armed whites attempted to disarm 38 members of a black militia in the predominantly black community near the end of the Reconstruction era.]

      Butler came to New York City with an African-American named Sam Britton who performed the role of a runaway slave. Britton's task was to escape on horseback and on foot, and then wait for Butler's dogs to track him down. 

John A. Kellogg
Service in the 5th Wisconsin Volunteers
Rufus Dawes, 1890

       One newspaper described the exhibition: "Reaching the gate, Sam consented to be 'treed' and mounting the high gate-post, awaited the hounds. When they found him they redoubled their noise and leaped high into the air, trying to reach the negro, who beat them off with his whip, until Mr. Butler came up and sounded his horn, at which the barking ceased as if by magic and the fugitive withdrawn. Mr. Butler says the dogs would have bitten the negro, well as they knew him, had he descended before the horn sounded, unless he had a club with which to beat them off. The moral seemed to be that a runaway slave must be careful to have a tree handy when the dogs overtook him, or, if he is caught in a swamp, he should be able tot cut a hickory stick in season." [New  York Tribune, reprinted in the Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette, 10-18-1879, page 2]

        According to the New York Times, Butler's dogs were not ferocious looking. "the dogs were meek and mild little fox-hounds, of the kind that could hardly frighten anything larger than a rapid. Colonel Butler said they were the only kind every used in the South for tracking negroes and that they were not bloodhounds...They looked very sleek and neat, also looked as if a man with a good nerve and a heavy pair of boots could easily overcome their alleged ferocity." [reprinted in the Buffalo Morning Express, 10-13, 1879, page 2]

         Michener read of Butler's comments and became enraged.  His experience as a prisoner and escapee that that the dogs were not as benign as Butler described. "Before starting on our weary march back to that dreaded imprisonment this Mr. Butler took occasion to say: 'It's a good thing for youuns that our catch dogs gave out half a mile back here, for I reckon they'd a tored youuns up 'fore weuns got thar.'" [Michener presumed his captor was not Thomas J. Butler, who would have been about 21 years old at the time, but a member of the extended Butler family.]

     "I saw a Captain Holmes of St. Louis, Mo., a prisoner of war at Macon, Ga., in July, 1864, who had been fearfully mangled and torn by a catch dog in Alabama while he was trying to escape. I frequently saw two large South American blood-hounds outside of the stockade at Macon. At Andersonville, they had a large pack of blood-hounds.

       "...when this other edition of the Butler family tells the Tribune reporter that they 'had and have no blood-hounds down thar in South Carolina,' I say, 'you lie, you villain, you lie.'"

        Upon surrendering, Colonel Kellogg asked his captor if the dogs would have bitten the escapees had they not been called off. The captor smiled and said, "I reckon they might; right smart, too. I've seen them hounds eat [blacks], and I reckon they wouldn't know the difference atween them and you uns."

     

Harper's Weekly   November 21, 1863

      Kellogg's statement confirms John E. Michener's claim that using the hounds was not always humane, as Butler claimed in 1879, but that the dogs had the potential to bite, maim, and even kill the humans they were pursuing.

     In his blog entitled, "Management of Negroes Upon Southern Estates," Toussaint Heywood has a post entitled "Track-dogs, catch-dogs and bloodhounds" that describes in detail the use of these animals to pursue and capture runaway slaves. 

        Kellogg, who had been wounded and captured at the Battle of the Wilderness in Virginia on May 5, 1864,  wrote his memoir in the early 1880's. Kellogg states the name of his pursuer in 1864 was named Davis, who may have been Butler's partner during the search. Kellogg alludes to Butler's visit to New York City in the following statement,  relating that there was a special observer among those at the New York City slave-catching demonstration in 1879.

       ",,,,this negro hunter,,,exhibited his pack of bloodhounds in New York City, and among those who attended the exhibition was my friend L.G. Billings. I should have supposed his curiosity would have been gratified in South Carolina."

       Michener was not the only reader to dispute Butler's performance, although for different reasons. A South Carolina newspaper wrote of the event, "the stalwart Republican press has been heralding it abroad with the startling news that there are hounds of this character in every neighborhood through the South and that the poor negroes are chased and torn by them at the mercy and caprice of the lawless whites...it is a miserable falsehood." [The Intelligencer, Anderson, SC, 10-23-1979, page 3]

Uncle Tom's Cabin Theatre Poster   LOC

         If Butler's main purpose was to make money, he apparently was successful. It was reported that Butler was paid well to join an acting troupe that was performing "Uncle Tom's Cabin." Butler's dogs were to be used in one of the scenes for dramatic effect. He also expressed hopes to tour the country and perhaps even Europe.

           Upon being captured by Butler and Davis, Michener and his five fellow escapees were sent to prison at Charleston. Two months later, Kellogg attempted another escape. This time he travelled 350 miles and succeeded in reaching Union lines in Georgia. He rejoined his regiment and participated in the Battle of Five Forks near Petersburg, VA on April 1, 1865. Kellogg returned to Wisconsin and resumed the practice of law. He was elected to the Wisconsin state senate in 1878 and died five years later.

         Later in life, Billings was promoted to rear admiral of the navy and served in three wars. He died in 1920 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

        Captain John E. Michener was released as part of a prisoner exchange on the James River in Virginia on October 16, 1864 for Mississippi cavalry Captain Alonzo J. Lewis. Michener's letter to the newspaper concerning the track dogs was printed on November 5, 1879. He died four days later from a lung disease that perhaps the resulted from his confinement and escape attempt. He was 41 years old.

Fredericktown Cemetery, Washington County, Pennsylvania

        

     

The Last Man Killed

   

Frank Leslie's Illustrated

       In last week's post, I  wrote about James C. Davis, who was the last member of the regiment to be wounded in battle. Davis was hurt on April 2, 1865 at Fort Gregg near Petersburg, VA.
       Davis survived his wound and went on to a prominent career in education. He died in 1914 at the age of 63 and is buried in Kansas.
      The next question to answer is: Who was the last member of the 85th Pennsylvania to die in battle? The answer is not as cut-and-dried as one would imagine. My interpretation of the question is: Who was the last to die AS A RESULT of being wounded in battle. Based on this view, several men who were wounded at Second Deep Bottom could be that last victim. And what about those who WERE members of the 85th Pennsylvania but had transferred to another regiment to meet their permanent fate?
        Following the  2nd Battle of Deep Bottom in August of 1864. the 85th Pennsylvania was involved in the fighting at Darbytown Road, VA (October 13, 1864), Fort Gregg (April 2, 1865) and Appomattox Court House (April 9, 1865) before the war finally ended.

New York Daily Herald
August 17, 1864

    In these final three engagements, several men from the 85th Pennsylvania were wounded but there were no fatalities.
     That means that the last engagement in which men from the regiment were killed was at 2nd Deep

2DP Reenactment  2014

Bottom. In that engagement 21 men were killed and another 73 were wounded.
      In this one-week operation near Richmond, most men died on the day of the most substantial part of the fight on August 18,1864.         

  

      The 85th Pennsylvania, as a member of Francis Pond's Brigade, stormed and captured a Confederate earthwork.
       Captain Lewis Watkins of Company E was severely wounded in the arm and  leg while helping to lead the charge at 2nd Deep Bottom. Watkins died six weeks later at Chesapeake Hospital at Fort Monroe (VA).
        Of the men who suffered fatal wounds, Sergeant Myers P. Titus of Company G lingered until November 2, 1864 before dying in a Hampton (VA) hospital. Corporal James Sturgis, also of Company G, hung on from his wound until he expired on November 6, 1864 in a hospital in Beverly, NJ.
        Next is Corporal James C. Bailey of Company C. Bailey was captured on Whitemarsh Island near Savannah, Georgia on February 22, 1864. The exact cause of his demise is unclear. Bailey was eventually released during a large-scale prisoner exchange but died on the voyage home on December 12, 1864. He may have been wounded on Whitemarsh Island. How much this contributed to his death is unknown. On the other hand, his death may have been due to harsh treatment at Andersonville and other Confederate prison camps. If he were wounded on Whitemarsh Island, was this a a contributory factor to his death?
        Next is Private David Baldwin of Company D. Baldwin  who died in Salisbury (NC) POW camp in North Carolina on December 19, 1864. Baldwin was listed as missing-in-action at 2nd Deep Bottom. Like Bailey, it is unknown if Baldwin were wounded, causing him to be captured. If he were wounded, it is also not known if this contributed to his death. He may have died of starvation or caught a disease in camp and expired.

Captain Richard Dawson
James Hadden, History of the Old Flag

 

      Captain Richard Dawson of Company I was wounded at the second (and successful) Union assault on Fort Fisher near Wilmington, North Carolina in January of 1865. Dawson was wounded in the arm, which was amputated, but he passed away a few weeks later from the wound on February 1, 1865.
    But Dawson was not a member of the 85th Pennsylvania at the time. Two months earlier, he had been promoted and was an aide to General Adelbert Ames when he was wounded during the storming of Fort Fisher.





 

Corporal Joseph W. Burson
Courtesy of Sharon Zbinovec

      Finally there is my choice for the last fatality in the regiment, Corporal Joseph W. Burson of Company D. Burson was wounded and captured at Second Deep Bottom in August. He was released from prison camp near the end of the war, but died on March 17, 1865, three weeks before the war ended. He died at home in Fredericktown, Washington County, just after being accompanied home by his father, Edward, from a hospital in Annapolis, Maryland.
    Therefore, although it is possible Burson's death was caused by his stay in prison camp, his wound does appear to be a contributing factor in his demise.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/46342950/joseph-w_-burson

Walton Cemetery
Clarksville, GreeneCounty, PA

Captain Ross Rush Sanner

Captain Ross R. Sanner
Company H, 85th Pennsylvania Infantry
U.S. Army Education and Center

              Last week's post was about soldier and industrialist Norman Bruce Ream of Company H of the 85th Pennsylvania. That post mentions that Ream was saved from captivity and possibly death by his cousin, Lt. Ross R. Sanner. Ream was wounded during an assault upon Confederate forces on Whitemarsh Island, Georgia in 1864 and Sanner, also a member of Company H, assisted him back to the Union assault boats at the southwestern part of the island.

Whitemarsh Island (showing defenses) near Savannah, Georgia
LOC

        This week's post will focus on Sanner. Like Ream, Sanner taught school prior to the war as a teenager. Unlike Ream, Sanner continued his career as an educator following the war. In fact, his remarkable career as a principal and instructor spanned about 60 years. He began teaching as a teenager and  "Professor" Sanner was still teaching school at the age of 76.
    A news article five decades after the Civil War contrasted the postwar careers of the two cousins."[Ream] recovered from his wounds and became one of the greatest and richest money magnates of the United States, while Capt. Sanner elected to follow the humble though nonetheless honorable vocation of a pedagogue and in worldly goods and chattels is accounted a poor man in his old age, though rich in honor and respect shown him by the many pupils who have been under his guidance. The multi-millionaire, Norman B. Ream, remained his steadfast friends until his death, but did not remember him in his will...The writer (editor of the Republican) [William S. Livengood] had the privilege of being one of his primary pupils in 1868 and among the readers of the Republican are many who received their first instruction from this grand old pedagogue and who have ever since held him in grateful memory and high esteem." [Meyersdale Republican, February 17, 1916]
        Sanner enlisted into Company H as a 19-year old sergeant. On August 23, 1863, while stationed on Morris Island near Charleston, South Carolina, Sanner was shot in the neck by a Confederate sharpshooter. He recovered, rejoined his company and six months later saved Ream's life on Whitemarsh Island.

Sharpshooters near Fort Wagner on Morris Island, SC

         Four months after that, Sanner was wounded for the second time at Ware Bottom Church during the Bermuda Hundred Campaign and was sent to Chesapeake Hospital at Fortress Monroe. [Ream, his cousin, had also been wounded at Ware Bottom Church one day earlier]. Sanner returned to his regiment on the last day of July six weeks later, but was subsequently granted a medical discharge in September of 1864 after nearly three years of service.

Arrival of Wounded Soldiers at Fort Monroe
Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper

        Sanner returned home to Somerset County but was plagued by paralysis in his arm and stiffness in his neck. He was nonetheless able to resume his teaching career, beginning in Grantsville, Maryland, just 17 miles from his birthplace.

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        Among the various places at which he taught school were the Maryland cities of Cumberland, Frostburg, Oakland, Grantsville, Selbysport and Friendsville, as well as the Pennsylvania towns of Uniontown, Somerset and Confluence. For four years he was an instructor at the soldiers' orphan school in Jumonville, PA. He was still teaching until three weeks prior to his death.
        Sanner died in  1918. At his funeral, Dr. Walter S. Mountain, a life-long friend and fellow veteran of Company H, delivered the eulogy. Mountain said, "Capt. R.R. Sanner and I were schoolboys together and in the same company during the Civil War, hence I know something of his bravery and how well he did his duty as a soldiers...Our first fight was at Williamsburg, Va, and the captain [Sanner] was not found in the rear. He showed the same bravery at Yorktown, Fair Oaks and Malvern Hill. The next battle was at Newbern, NC, [Goldsboro Expedition] where Capt. Jackson was hiding behind a bank along a stream for fear he might be shot, and for which he was dismissed from the service for cowardice, and Capt. Sanner showed his bravery by staying on the bank where he was exposed and won his captaincy...[On Morris island]..the captain exposed his head above the ramparts and a confederate caught him in the neck with a bullet, and he was sent to the hospital. He was offered his discharge, but he said, 'No I am going back to my company to help lick the enemy.' A Confederate [at Ware Bottom Church] caught him in the arm and maimed him till the job was completed." [Meyeresdale (PA) Republican, April 11, 1918]
        Sanner is buried at Confluence, Somerset County in the Methodist Cemetery.

Sanner, age 74
Meyersdale Republican, 2-17-16

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