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28th Pennsylvania Infantry – Pennsylvania Memorial at Gettysburg
Posted By Norman Gasbarro on February 28, 2011
(Part 7 of an ongoing series on the Battle of Gettysburg). Around the base of the Pennsylvania Memorial at Gettysburg are a series of plaques which, by regiment and company, note the names of every soldier who was present at the Battle of Gettysburg. This post will present the plaque recognizing the men who served in the 28th Pennsylvania Infantry. By clicking on the plaque it should enlarge so the names can be more clearly read. Following the plaque is a list of the men who have thus far been identified as eligible for inclusion in this Civil War Research Project who, it is believed, served for a time in the 28th Pennsylvania Infantry. Not all the names may appear on the Pennsylvania Memorial plaques. If a name does not appear, it could be that the soldier did serve in the 28th Pennsylvania Infantry, but was not part of the regiment during its days at Gettysburg – or it could mean that the soldier was erroneous included in the 28th Pennsylvania Infantry list. There could also be errors on the plaque. Readers are invited to submit comments about any names appearing below, or on the plaque, especially if they believe the soldier was from the Lykens Valley area and should be included in this study.
Click on picture to enlarge.
Men from the Lykens Valley area who probably served in the 28th Pennsylvania Infantry:
William A. Loomis — Andrew Ressler — Hiram Schram — Frank C. Staughton
Information for this post was taken from the files of the Civil War Research Project. A separate digital file is kept on each of the above-named men. Information is sought on any men from the Lykens Valley area who were soldiers or sailors during the Civil War.
My ancestor, Henry Lentz, fought in Co E of the 28th and I am curious about where that particular company might have been positioned during the battle of Gettysburg. Also, is there anyone out there who has information on specific soldiers such as Henry?
The 28th Pennsylvania Infantry was in the XII Army Corps, 2nd Division, 2nd Brigade at Gettysburg – under Maj. Gen. Henry W. Slocum & Brig. Gen. Alpheus S. Williams. See prior post for organization of the army at Gettysburg: http://civilwar.gratzpa.org/2011/01/pennsylvania-regiments-at-gettysburg-corps-generals/. If you have access to a good, detailed set of maps of the battle, you should be able to find the positioning of the regiment at each stage of the battle. In written histories of the battle, the specific regiments are sometimes not given, so you should look for where the general is positioned or where the army corps is positioned. Individual soldier information is available in various archives and sometimes found on the web. In many cases, the personal information (stories, pictures, documents) is found in family histories. At the Gratz Historical Society, we are collecting as much personal information as we can find on soldiers with a connection to our area. “Lentz” is one of the family names in our geographic area so a file will be started on your soldier (although he has been identified as a Philadelphia enrollee).
Hi, Norman,
Thanks for the reply and the link to get me started so I could research Henry’s likely movements. I did take a spin around the web today and it looks like they moved around a bit east of Culp’s Hill near Rock Creek doing skirmish line duty. A Gettysburg trip seems like a fun outing this summer and I can likely have a ranger with the official park maps/data point me in the right direction so I can walk the grounds in that area.
I have found census records for Henry from 1870 to 1910 and an obituary (1918) and feature article regarding his son/grandsons who continued his foundry business and the business’ history (1954). He is listed as being an immigrant from Hesse Castle, Germany in 1859 and 1861 (I’ve not yet unraveled which census immigration year is likely more correct). Philadelphia would have been a reasonable port of debarkation making a Philly area enlistment soon after arrival highly probable. I think that Bates listed Co E as being recruited from Carbon County which is nearby west of Philly according to a current map. What does puzzle me is how he managed to move so far west (Westmoreland County, PA) of that area (Philadelphia) in what I feel is a relatively short period of time given how much more difficult travel would have been then. Though I think I read something else while researching that says the 28th recruited as far away as Westmoreland County for one of their companies, so perhaps he made the acquaintance and had an occupational skill set that increased his financial opportunities post war by moving.
Thanks again for the link and suggestions.
Sincerely,
Julie A. Rowan-Wolford
My great-grandfather – Thomas Inglesby served in Company K of the 28th Pennsylvania. He was shot in the bowels at Chancellorsville, left on the field, captured and later exchanged at Parole Md. He rejoined the regiment in time for their transfer to Chattanooga and was wounded a second time at Peach Tree Creek.
It appears that his name was originally included on the Company K roster on the Memorial but later removed. Wonder when that list was originally created and his name removed on the Company K Memorial ?