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Evergreen Cemetery in Union City, Pennsylvania,
Just like any small town cemetery, Evergreen Cemetery in Union City, Pennsylvania, has its share of Civil War veterans. Although it doesn't actually have a section labeled "Fredericksburg Casualties,"
Evergreen Cemetery should have such a section because so many soldiers from the 145th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry who fell in front of the stone wall at Fredericksburg rest there. In fact, the 145th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, which is referred to in accounts of Fredericksburg as the "Pennsylvania regiment," was nearly decimated at Fredericksburg. Only a fragment of it remained when the battle was over.
The 145th was recruited in Erie, Warren, Crawford, and Mercer Countries in Northwestern Pennsylvania. Families from such Erie County towns as Waterford, Wattsburg, Union City, and Corry, had stone walls running across their farms and fields similar to the one at Fredericksburg. Their sons would never see those stone walls again, because General Ambrose Burnside had decided that they would hold a stone wall at Fredericksburg. Company B of the 145th is represented in part by privates John L. Osborn, Henry Putnam, and Charles Sherman. All died at Fredericksburg on December 13, 1862. Private Edmund B. Williams was wounded in the left leg at Fredericksburg and discharged from the army on a surgeon's certificate on October 17, 1863.
Company C members included Corporal Samuel Northrop, and Privates John C. Strong and Byron E. Pierce. They were all mustered in on August 26, 1862, and all died at Fredericksburg on December 13, 1862.
Company B, mustered in on August 27, 1862, is represented in Evergreen Cemetery by First Lieutenant John H. Hubbard. He was wounded at Fredericksburg on December 13, 1862, and died of his wounds at Falmouth, Virginia in December 1862. Second Lieutenant Charles H. Riblet was killed at Fredericksburg on that fatal December 13th. Sergeant Henry Skinner died on December 15, 1862, of wounds received at Fredericksburg and Private Henry Whitney died on January 11, 1863 of wounds received at Fredericksburg. Privates Henry Shoemaker, Calvin Pier, Frank G. Lewis, and Russell L. Bliss were killed at Fredericksburg on December 13, 1862. Corporals James Buchanan and Sidney Austin fell near the stone wall on December 13th.
Many members of Company E of the 145th Pennsylvania lie in Evergreen. Second Lieutenant Charles S. Carroll's family had been among the first settlers in Erie County and so had the ancestors of Corporal Frederick W. Barnes, Sergeant Frank Sherwood, Private David D. King, Private George W. Sherwood and First Sergeant Simeon Putnam. They died together at Fredericksburg on December 13th and they sleep together in Evergreen. Privates Josiah Churchill, Nathan Dine, Edward Arrow, Christopher Hess, Cyrus Hatch, Riley Hoyt, James Wellman, Albert Woodin and John Lasure all died at Fredericksburg and most rest in Evergreen.
Private Norman W. Bartlett of Company E was wounded at Fredericksburg, and so was Private Melville Clark. Private John Mitchell and Private Frank B. Harris were both wounded at Fredericksburg. Private Harris suffered a gunshot wound in the head and left shoulder. When he died in 1925, his comrades from the Grand Army of the Republic laid him to rest with military honors in Evergreen Cemetery. Private Melville Clark is also buried in Evergreen. Private Harvey Lyons suffered a gunshot wound in the left ankle at Fredericksburg and Private Alonzo C. Patch died January 12, 1863, of wounds received at Fredericksburg. Company E of the 145th contributed many men to the Union casualties at Fredericksburg.
These are just a portion of the men from the 145th who fought and died at Fredericksburg. These Pennsylvanians had responded to the urgent command of General Ambrose Burnside and the urgent need of their country. The 145th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry was recruited in Northwestern Pennsylvania and organized on September 5, 1862. Its field officers were Colonel Hiram L. Brown of Erie, Lt. Colonel David B. McCreary of Erie, and Major John W. Patton of Crawford County. Colonel Hiram Brown had already received a severe wound at the Battle of Gaine's Mill and wasn't fully recovered from it when he was selected to lead the 145th.
When the 145th organized, the Union Army urgently needed troops. The Army of the Potomac had returned from its frustrating campaign on the Peninsula and the Union still smarted from its defeat at Bull Run. The 145th left Erie on September 11, 1862, and traveled to Harrisburg and on to Chambersburg by train. It took 36 hours for the regiment to travel from Erie and to the sound of enemy gunfire, because General Robert E. Lee had already crossed the Potomac River and penetrated to the South Mountain.
The 145th stopped for five days at Camp McClure. The men were armed with the old Harper's Ferry muskets and sporadically drilled. Then General John F. Reynolds who was in command in Pennsylvania ordered the 145th to move in the direction of Hagerstown. The regiment had just been partially outfitted and many men and officers were freshly recruited from civilian life. They suffered much from exposure and inadequate supplies. By September 17, 1862, the 145th was under arms and the men heard the booming of canons from the field at Antietam, ten miles away. The men became excited and were impatient to march to the battlefield. Colonel Brown led the 145th forward. A little after noon the regiment arrived upon the extreme right of the Union line, which was desperately fighting the corps of Stonewall Jackson. Enemy shell and shot fell like rain.
The 145th was isolated from the main army and in constant danger of falling victim to the enemy's cavalry which was very active. Colonel Brown immediately moved his regiment into position. The 145th filled a gap which existed between the Union right and the Potomac, holding the two paths and the road which ran along under the high bluff skirting the river. This prevented the Confederates from flanking the Union forces in that direction. The 145th held its position and performed picket duty in face of the Rebels until the morning of September 19, 1862. That morning the Yankees discovered that the Rebels had escaped. In company with other troops, the 145th went to the field to bury the dead and care for the wounded. For four days the wounded and dead had lain as they fell and left an intolerable stench in the air. The men of the 145th grew sick from privation and exposure and the severe duty on the polluted battle field. Within a month from the time the 145th had been ordered to the front, between 200 and 300 men were disqualified for duty. Many men died or were permanently disabled or discharged.
Soon after the battle, the 145th went into camp on Boliver Heights just above Harper's Ferry. Eventually, the 145th was assigned to the First Brigade, First Division of the Second Corps and delegated to picket and guard duty and severe drill. The men who soldiered in the 145th were veterans, with a year's experience in discipline and campaigning. They had learned much in a short time. Towards the close of October, the 145th moved with the army down the Loudon Valley to Warrenton. The regiment halted briefly and then marched toward Falmouth, Virginia. General Ambrose Burnside now commanded the Army and busily prepared to engage the Confederates.
The morning of December 11, 1862, dawned clear and crisp along the Rappahannock. The entire Union Army stirred early and battle readiness bristled in the air and rippled through both armies. On the afternoon of December 12, 1862, the 145th crossed on the upper pontoon bridge and formed in line upon a street running parallel with the river. It remained there until nightfall.
On the morning of December 13, the 145th moved back from the river two or three streets, its right resting near the courthouse. At the courthouse it came under heavy artillery fire, and an incessant fusillade from sharp shooters concealed from view. About noon the First Division marched up the street and out upon the plain, between the town and battery-covered hills that encircled it beyond. General Lee had positioned his artillery batteries wisely. The guns swept the open ground west of the city with deadly efficiency. The 145th moved with the resolve of veterans over the deep ditch and smooth plain towards the stone wall at the foot of Marye's Heights. Its ranks were shattered and torn by the fire from the concealed infantry, crouched in a sunken road and behind a stone wall.
The enemy infantry was made up of Confederate soldiers from Georgia and North Carolina. Wave after wave of Union soldiers left the cover of Fredericksburg, crossed a canal ditch hidden in a small valley, and moved west toward Marye's Heights. They had to cross four hundred yards of open space. If the Yankees managed to evade the artillery they encountered a sheet of flame from the infantry 150 yards away, behind the stone wall. Men moved into the storm of lads, screaming and hunching their shoulders as if they were encountering a violent wind.
General Lee poured reinforcements into the sunken road. His riflemen stood six ranks deep in some portions of the line. General Burnside ordered brigade after brigade, fifteen in all, to challenge the Confederates. The attacks began at noon and continued until dark. When the shooting had stopped, not one Union soldier had touched the stone wall.
The men of the 145th charged the wall. Their names make up a drum roll call of the Evergreen Cemetery section-Simon Putnam, Charles Carroll and the others. The 145th stayed in position until night fall and until the fighting ceased. Then the division was relieved and returned to town.
One of the witnesses to the battle said, "Of the five thousand men Hancock led into action, more than 2,000 fell in that charge; and it was found that the bravest of these had thrown up their hands and lay dead within two and twenty paces of the stone wall."
On the night of December 15, 1862, the Union Army recrossed the river. On the following morning the fragment remaining of the 145th occupied its old quarters on Stafford Heights. On the morning before the battle, 556 men reported to duty. A portion of two companies were upon the skirmish lines, when the rest of the regiment moved for the field and consequently did not accompany it.
Of those who crossed the river, less than 500 in number, about one half of them or about 226, were either killed or wounded. Captains Wood, Mason and Brown, and Lieutenants Clary, Brown, Carroll, Vincent, Riblet and Hubbard and nine commissioned officers were either killed or mortally wounded. Colonel Brown received two severe wounds, one of which was supposed to be mortal but from which he recovered. Captain Lynch and Lieutenants Lang and Stuart, were among the wounded. Colonel Von Shock of the New York Seventh and Lt. Colonel McCreary were the only field officers in the entire brigade who were not either killed or wounded.
The Fredericksburg soldiers in Evergreen Cemetery slumber on until the guns boom and the bugles summon them once again to join in another fateful charge ordered by General Burnside.
Some Union City Soldiers from the 145th Pennsylvania
Melville D. Clark. Union City. Pvt. Co E. 145th. Wounded at Fredericksburg in December 1862. Re-enlisted in the 63rd Reg Co. K. According to Evergreen Cemetery Records, he died on July 26, 1862, at age 32 years. His child drew a pension of $12.00 a month beginning in May 1879.
George W. Crandall. McKean Twp. Co. B 145th PVI. Enlisted in 1862. He was at the first and second Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. He was wounded at Gettysburg. He went to the hospital at Newark, New Jersey, and was discharged on December 24, 1863.
Virgil L. Crandall. McKean Township. Co. B. 145th PVI. Enlisted in 1862. While in camp at Falmouth, Virginia, he died in the hospital the day before the Battle of Fredericksburg on December 10, 1862. He was the brother of George W. Crandall.
John F. Briggs. Waterford. 145th PVI. Received a wound in the leg at Fredericksburg which never healed. Discharged in 1863 and returned home. Died on March 12, 1868.
Theron Briggs. Waterford, 145th PVI. Reported missing after battle of Spottsylvania. Never heard from again.
Frank B. Harris. Union City. Pvt. Co. E. 145th. Served from August 18, 1862-May 13, 1863. Suffered a gunshot wound in the head and left shoulder. Participated in Antietam and Fredericksburg. Gunshot wound in the head at Fredericksburg on December 3, 1862. Pension of $6.00 a month starting in 1878. Born on December 8, 1840 and died in 1925. He was buried in Evergreen Cemetery.
Christopher Hess. Union City. Pvt. Co. E. 145th PVI. Mustered in August 27, 1862. Killed at Fredericksburg, VA on December 13, 1862.
John Lasure. Union City. Pvt. Co. E. 145th PVI. Enlisted on August 27, 1862. He was killed at Fredericksburg. VA on December 13, 1862.
John Henry Hubbard. Union City. 1st Sergeant Co. D. 145th PVI. Mustered in on August 27, 1862. He died at Falmouth, Virginia, on December 16, 1862 of wounds received at Fredericksburg. Buried in Evergreen Cemetery.
James F. Luther. Union City. Pvt. Co. E. 145th. Enlisted on January 5, 1864. Killed at Spottsylvania Court House, Virginia, on May 12, 1864. Buried in Evergreen Cemetery.
Lawrence Price. Union City. Pvt. Co. E. 145th PVI. Enlisted on December 29, 1863. Died at Petersburg, VA on April 2, 1865. Born in 1823. Emily Price, his widow, received a pension of $8.00 a month starting in January 1868. He is buried in Evergreen Cemetery.
James W. Mulvin. Union City. Pvt. Co. E. 145th. Served from August 27, 1862-June 1863. Born in 1839 and died in 1915. He is buried in Evergreen Cemetery.
Niram N. Northrop. Union City. Pvt. Co. K. 145th PVI. Enlisted September 12, 1862 and died of wounds at Douglas Hospital in Washington, D.C. on November 28, 1863. Born in 1843. Buried in Evergreen Cemetery.
Frank Sherwood, Union City, Pvt. Co. E. 145th PVI. Enlisted on August 27, 1862. Killed at Fredericksburg, VA on December 13, 1862. Buried in Evergreen Cemetery.
George W. Sherwood, Union City, Pvt. Co. E. 145th PVI. Enlisted August 27, 1862. Killed at Fredericksburg, VA on December 13, 1862. Buried in Evergreen Cemetery.
Charles S. Steadman, Union City. 2nd Lt. Co. A. 145th. Served from August 31, 1862-May 21, 1865. Taken prisoner at Petersburg in June 1864. Imprisoned at Andersonville and Florence. Exchanged on February 27, 1865. Promoted to 2nd Lt. Mustered out with company on May 3, 1865. Received pension of $8.00 a month. Born in 1820 and died September 11, 1886. Buried in Evergreen Cemetery.
Bits of Biography
James J. Harris, Sergeant, Company E, 145th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, was one of the ordinary soldiers who wrote letters home from battlefields in the southern states. He enlisted in 1862 and served in the infantry until June 14, 1865. Mrs. Harris kept his letters and one of them was printed in the Union City Times Enterprise in 1918. It is dated Falmouth, Virginia, May 10, 1863. In the letter, James tells his wife that he feels better than he did the last time he wrote. He describes how he and the other men of the 145th marched to the battlefield.
"We marched within a mile or two of the river and camped down in a very nice piece of little pines. It would be a good place for camp meetings," he wrote to his wife.
Judging from the date of his letter and his description of preparing for battle, it is likely that James participated in the Battle of Chancellorsville, which took place on May 1-3, 1863. In this battle, Confederate General Robert E. Lee and Lieutenant General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson led a dramatically outnumbered Army of Northern Virginia to victory. This battle has been called Lee's greatest victory and one of the Confederacy's brightest moments.
Since it's crushing defeat at the battle of Fredericksburg in December 1862, the Army of the Potomac had been in disarray. During the winter of 1862-1863, the opposing armies had settled into camps, facing each other across the icy Rappahannock River. Northern officers and men were particularly discouraged, questioning the abilities of Commander Major General Ambrose E. Burnside and even the ability of the north to win major battles.
General Burnside compounded the unhappiness of his troops when he led them out of their winter camps in mid-January on what they called "the mud March." This march led to the firing of General Burnside. Major General Joseph "Fighting Joe" Hooker replaced him. As soon as spring mud dried up and Virginia roads were passable, General Hooker moved part of his army up and across the Rappahannock above Fredericksburg. He had a daring plan. He would fall upon the rear of Lee's Army and destroy it.
Major General Hooker immediately put his plan into action. Facing a tremendous disadvantage, General Lee rushed his men west of Fredericksburg toward the tiny country crossroads of Chancellorsville. Dense underbrush covered the land. Local inhabitants had always called the tangle of thickets "The Wilderness." It served as a natural barbed wire for Lee to maneuver his slender military resources around and through.
General Hooker and Lee maneuvered for position, and May 1st ended with the Union Army digging in around and west of the crossroads. The right flank of the Army stretched westward beyond Wilderness Church.
In the meantime, James J. Harris was busy. The 145th Pennsylvania had gotten orders to build a pontoon bridge across the river. He reported to his wife that the men had quite a time getting a pontoon down the hill to the river. They had to build a road down a gutter to the river, unhitching the mules from the wagons to finish building the road. After this was finished, James reported that "the commander had the Pennsylvania rackers, or pack mules as we are called, draw the pontoon wagons to the river. It took about 10 span of us to a wagon. We had quite a time of it, getting them down. It was but a short job to lay the pontoon."
The men successfully put the bridge in place and crossed the river. The generals continued to organize their battlelines, and late in the afternoon of May 2, General Jackson had his 30,000 men lined up behind the unsuspecting Union troops Hordes of ragged Confederate soldiers came charging out of the bushes, screaming their Rebel yell. They rolled over and destroyed half of General Hooker's line.
On the morning of May 3, the most intense fighting of the battle of Chancellorsville developed across the densely wood Wilderness. Confederate artillery crowded into a small, high clearing known as Hazel Grove and the guns at Hazel Grove supplied momentum to weary infantrymen. They surged across the fields around Chancellorsville crossroads in mid-morning to clinch a southern victory that cost the Union 17,000 casualties.
James described his battle situation. "We built a good breastwork. I think they would have been laid low if they had attempted to climb over it, but they shelled us like fury. They got the range of us pretty well, but they threw their shells too high generally…The enemy fought well. It is claimed they had whiskey and gun powder to make them fight. I certainly think it is so, and I believe they make a practice of giving it to the men before entering a battle."
Another dramatic aspect of Chancellorsville unfolded on May 3 at Salem Church on the outskirts of Fredericksburg. A Union force remaining near the town brushed aside the Confederates there and pushed west toward the main action, threatening Lee's success at Chancellorsville.
Some Confederates found good ground at Salem Church where they could resist the Union force, but in the end, many of them were killed.
Commenting on this to his wife, James wrote: "Charles Hoyt and I went over to the battlefield that day, but it was not safe to stay there long. We held our round there until Wednesday morning when we fell back and went to camp. They shelled us a good deal while we were there. One captain was struck with a shell and our major general had his arm shot off. While fighting there, our men were doing good work at Fredericksburg."
During the next three days, the campaign wound down and General Hooker decided to admit defeat and recross the river. The battle of Chancellorsville gave the Army of Northern Virginia momentum that a few weeks later. Lee turned into an aggressive campaign that ultimately led to Gettysburg. Chancellorsville cost the Confederacy 12, 800 casualties, including Stonewall Jackson.
In another letter dated December 4, 1863, James told his wife about more marches and skirmishes with the army in Virginia. He said, "I think we will make our winter headquarters near here. I understand we are going to move our camp about a mile tomorrow. I will send you a piece of Reb ribbon we got near the battlefield." James did send her the piece of red Reb ribbon which was well preserved along with the letter.
James was wounded by a bullet in the right arm at Sailor's Creek, Virginia, on April 6, 1865, but he survived the war. He came home to Union City to live out his life. He died in 1923 and was buried in Evergreen Cemetery.
Civil War Campfires
By Kathy Warnes
U.S. Legacies: October 2004