Civil War Blog

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on June 1, 2014

On 14 September 1861, William Gratz (1836-1863), of western Pennsylvania, enrolled in the 74th Pennsylvania Infantry, Company I, as a Private, at Camp Wilkins, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County and the same day and place was mustered into service.  His age was given as 25, but no other distinguishing information was given about him.  The remarks at the bottom of the Pennsylvania Veterans’ Index Card (shown above from the Pennsylvania Archives) state that he was not on the muster out roll and that this information was also noted in Bates.

Two questions about him could be asked:  (1) Was he a member of the Gratz family of Philadelphia, the family of Simon Gratz, known as the founder of Gratz, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania?  and (2) Why was he not on the muster out roll?

The Pension Index Card (above) from Ancestry.com, gives the date of application for a pension by his mother, Eva C. Gratz, as 25 February 1864.  She received the pension – but probably much later than the date of her application (there is a significant difference in the file number of the application and certificate number). This is an indication that there was something that possibly did not satisfy the pension examiners – something which took a period of time to prove.

In consulting the actual pension application file, now available on-line through Fold3, Eva’s full name is revealed as Eva Christina Gratz, a widow.  Two statements in page 3 of the file help clarify some genealogical information as well as information on why William Gratz did not return from the war (click on any document below to enlarge it):

Adjutant General reports enrollment and muster as a Private, 14 September 1861 – On roll for May and June 1863, he is reported as “killed in action, 2 May 1863, at Chancellorsville, Virginia.

Celibacy of Soldier/Relationship/Death or Disability of Husband:  Cred. [credible] wits. [witnesses] swear soldier left neither widow nor children, that he was the son of claimant, whose husband died 1859.

Dependence: Also that the soldier regularly contributed to the support of claimant by his labor before enlisting and by sending money for her use afterwards.  Claimant is poor.

1st Lieutenant Carl Veitenheimer, who later became Lieutenant Colonel of the 74th Pennsylvania Infantry, made a statement regarding the circumstances of the death of William Gratz:

The Veitenheimer statement (above, page 4 from the pension file), states that William died at Chancellorsville when “a ball entered his body.”  This statement was provided to the Pension Bureau on 21 January 1864, about a month before William’s mother made formal application for benefits.

For the controversy regarding Veitenheimer’s promotion within the 74th Pennsylvania Infantry, see Chancellorsville and the Germans, by Christian Keller, page 135.

On page 5 of the application, Eva swore that she was 61 years old (born about 1803) and that she had been totally blind for five years.  She made her mark on that document – an indication that she could not read or write.

Page 6 reveals the father’s name (Eva’s deceased husband) as John Gratz.

Pages 7 through 17 provide evidence confirming William’s military service and death, state that Eva was “in indigent circumstances having no means of support,” and that William had worked in “rope and cordage manufacturing” from the time he was ten years old – supporting his mother with his earnings.

Page 18 of the file reveals that after five years of waiting to hear from the Pension Bureau, she made a complaint against her attorney, T. W. Day of Pittsburgh, because she had not heard anything regarding her claim.  At that time, she requested that the authority for the claim be transferred to Attorney Jonathan W. Riddell of Pittsburgh.  Page 19 is the formal legal document for the transfer to the new attorney.  This latter document is the last one in the application file.

Given the genealogical information that was gleaned from the Pension Application File, a search was made in the 1850 and 1850 censuses with no positive results.  We are left with the fact that William Gratz‘s father was John Gratz, that he died in 1859, and that the widow, Eva Christina Gratz lived in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, at the time of her son’s death (1863), and afterward, through her pension application and receipt of benefits.  From this information, no connection has been made to any members of the Gratz family of Philadelphia – the family of Simon Gratz who founded Gratz, Pennsylvania.

It does not appear that Eva had any other children with John Gratz – thus,most likely ending this Gratz line.

There are many veterans listed in regimental records with the designation, “not on muster out roll.” In this case, the additional research has shown that there was a reason that William Gratz was not mustered out with his company – he was killed in action!  No place of burial has been located.

Perhaps there is someone reading this post who can fill in some information on John Gratz or be more specific on when and where at Chancellorsville he lost his life.  Information can be added to this post or sent by e-mail to the Project.

Category: Queries, Research, Resources, Stories | Comments Off on William Gratz and a Mother’s Pension
Tags: Gratz family

Posted By Brian Tomlin on May 31, 2014

May 2. Treaty of London, 1864.  The United Kingdom gave up  the United States of the Ionian Islands to Greece. The United Kingdom had held an amical protectorate over the islands since the 1815 Treaty of Paris. This is the first example of the British voluntarily giving up a colonial possession, a trait which would later become more common. 

May 20. Australian bushranger Ben Hall and his gang escape from a shootout with police after attempting to rob the Bang Bang Hotel in Koorawatha, New South Wales. Ben Hall carried out many

Ben Hall

audacious raids, some of which were intended to taunt the police. Unlike many bushrangers of the era, he was not directly responsible for any deaths, although several of his companions certainly were  He was shot dead by police in May 1865 at the Billabong Creek. 

May 21. The Caucasian War ended with the signing of loyalty oaths by Circassian leaders. Russia declares an end to the Russian-Circassian War and many Circassians are forced into exile. The day is designated to be the Circassian Day of Mourning. The Russian–Circassian War (1763–1864)  refers to a series of battles and wars in Circassia, the northwestern part of the Caucasus, which were part of the Russian Empire‘s conquest of the Caucasus lasting approximately 101 years, starting under the reign of Tsar Peter the Great and being completed in 1864. Although the conquest of the Caucasus started at least as early as the Russo-Persian Wars, the term Caucasian War commonly refers only to the period 1817–1864. The defeated Circassians (who were largely Muslin) who did not want to accept the rule of a Christian monarch, were frced to fllee. The Ottoman Empire took many, and  the refugees ended up in modern Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Iraq and Kosovo. Different smaller numbers ended up in neighbouring Persia. Various Russian, Caucasus, and Western historians agree on the figure of ca. 500,000 inhabitants of the highland Caucasus being deported by Russia in the 1860s. A large fraction of them died in transit from disease. This forced emigration has come to be known as the Circassian Genocide. 

Category: Culture | Comments Off on News of the World: May 1864
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Posted By Norman Gasbarro on May 30, 2014

On the same day that the New York Times reported on the Great Shohola Train Wreck, there appeared in that newspaper on the same page and just under the train wreck report, an article telling of the government seizure of the Reading Railroad and all its branches and of the almost total stoppage of the coal trade from the Pottsville, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, region – which had taken place for a period two weeks prior. The New York Times article does not go into too much detail as to the reasons for the coal-flow stoppage and railroad seizure – but it is mentioned that one of the issues was the wages paid to the men and another issue was the possible forcing up of the price of coal.

The coal train that switched onto the main Erie line on 15 July 1865 resulting in the collision with the prisoner train near Shohola, Pike County, Pennsylvania was said to be the result of the failure of the telegraph operator at Lackawaxen to notify the coal train that an “extra” (the prisoner train) was heading west on the same one-track line.  That telegraph operator has been identified as Douglas “Duff” Kent, but as has been noted here on this blog, attempts to research this individual have been fruitless to date – leading to a suspicion that he may not have existed – or perhaps was a fake name given to protect someone else who switched the coal train onto the main line.

The New York and Erie Railroad had an interest in getting the fifty coal cars to the New York area as quickly as possible – due to the coal shortage that had been created as a result of the Reading Railroad problems.  Whether this issue has ever been addressed in any analysis of the cause(s) of the train wreck, is not presently known.

Of the two engineers, the coal train engineer, Samuel Hoyt, was the only one who survived – and that was by jumping from the engine cab just before the impact.  The fireman of the coal train was crushed to death in the collision impact and the fireman of the prisoner train died as well.

The questions that need to be asked concern whether Hoyt was ever told that there was another train expected on the one-track line at Lackawaxen or whether he knew that another train was expected and thought he could beat it to Shohola.  Was he working on a tight schedule to get the coal train to its destination?  If he knew the line between Lackawaxen and Shohola, he knew of only one blind curve on the route – the one at King and Fuller’s cut.  If he could make it through the blind curve, the visibility was relatively good from there to Shohola and a warning could be sounded to any on-coming trains – with sufficient time for both to stop.  Was Hoyt especially alert as he approached the blind curve – which allowed him to notice the on-coming prisoner train and gave him sufficient time to jump and save himself?

Additional research is needed on the coal issues.  Additional research is also needed on the two engineers and two firemen who were in the engine cabs as the trains approached King and Fuller’s cut.

To see all the posts in this series, click on ShoholaTrainWreck.

The transcription of the New York Times article of 19 July 1864 appears below.

How the Government Gets Its Coal

SEIZURE OF THE READING RAILROAD

From the Philadelphia Press, 18 July 1864

The almost total stoppage of the coal trade for the last two weeks from the Pottsville region will be used as an excuse for advancing again the price of coal.  Until the Government is supplied, no steamboat, broken, or egg coal can be shipped to regular dealers from Pottsvillle.  We hope that every effort will be made to prevent any further suspension of the trade for the balance of the season.  It is a fearful responsibility to assume on the part of the employed or employees, when it results in keeping so heavy a tax on the whole community.

The Officers of the Reading Railroad Company, says the Miners Journal, have failed to come to terms with their employees on the different branches.  This is greatly to be regretted, as the men have conducted themselves in a very orderly manner, and they seem to think they asked no more wages than what they were entitled to, with the present advanced prices of everything.   The Reading Company, however on the other hand, state that, if they had yielded everything that was demanded, there was no security that they would not have had another demand made upon them in a short time.

In the meantime, the Government supply of coal was rapidly diminishing, and the Reading Road, with all its branches, were seized for government uses.  A new set of hand were also sent up from Washington and vicinity to work the laterals.  As these hands are new at the business, it will take some time before the trade is resumed in full.

The following order was issued on the 11th inst.:

HEADQUARTERS, Philadelphia, 13 July 1864

To Charles E. Smith, President Reading Railroad

SIR: The Reading Railroad and its branches are hereby seized for the military service of the United States.

Its operations will be conducted under my direction for military purposes until further orders.

GEORGE CADWALADER, Major-General Commanding

——————–

A number of coal trains were dispatched to market, but owing to a disagreement about prices with the Government contractors or agents, the Government was receiving but little coal, and on the 13th the following order was issued:

NOTICE TO COAL OPERATORS.

Reading, 13 July 1864

To JAMES MILLHOLLAND, ESQ: We have received an order from Col. George H. Crosman, Assistant Quartermaster-General to the following effect:

1. Forbidding the loading or shipping of steamboat, broken, or egg coal, for any other party or purpose than the United States Government.

2. Permitting all other sizes of coal to anybody freely, as before, either by canal or railroad.

3. Ordering Reading cars to be be loaded with Government sizes so far as they are required for that purpose.

4. What Reading cars are left, after the Government sizes are shipped, may be distributed by pro rata.

Please have the above strictly carried out, and let no government sizes of coal pass the scales except for Government use.

Pinegrove and Broad Top precisely as before.  I will advise those concerned.

Please publish the above order of Col. Crosman at Pottsville, Mount Carbon, Ashland and scale offices.

G. A. NICHOLS

We here take occasion to remark, that there would be no difficulty in the Government obtaining all the coal that is required, if it were not alleged, and generally believed, that a combination exists in Philadelphia to extort coal at very low rates from the operator, in order that the contractors or agents may make large profits.  It is notorious that the coal operators have always been willing to sell their coal t the Government at much lower rates than to their regular customers, and we know that a large portion of our coal operators are willing to sell to the Government at from $1 to $1.50 per ton less, provided they were satisfied that the Government derived the advantage of the reduction, instead of the contractors or agents.  We are assured that nearly the whole difficulty in obtaining coal arises from these causes.

——————————

News clippings are from the newspaper resources available from Ancestry.com.

Category: Research, Stories | 1 Comment »
Tags: Pine Grove, Railroad

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on May 29, 2014

Joseph Russell

Previously, on this blog, it was written:

Joseph Russell, [probably] the son of David Russell and Catharine Russell, of Washington Township, Dauphin County, was a laborer who served in the 9th Pennsylvania Cavalry, Company B, as a Private.  He was captured and held as a prisoner of war at Andersonville, Georgia [Note: Andersonville has not been verified], and Libby in Richmond.  During the Civil War he married Elizabeth Batdorf and they began their family [Note: see below for conflict in marriage date].  In 1890, Joseph was living in Loyalton, Washington Township, when he reported to the Veterans’ census that he had been a prisoner at Libby and that he was suffering from weakness of the spine and rheumatism.  There is a possibility that the Joseph Russell who is listed on the Lykens G.A.R. Monument is the same person since Loyalton did not have a G.A.R. post and the closest community where he could join was at Lykens.

Resent research has yielded the following results:

The Pennsylvania Veterans’ Index Card (above) from the Pennsylvania Archives notes that Joseph enrolled at Lykenstown [Lykens Borough], Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, on 17 September 1861 and was mustered into service on 7 October 1861 at Harrisburg as a Private in Company B of the 9th Pennsylvania Cavalry.  At the time of enrollment, he claimed to be 26 years old [born about 1835], was 5 foot 9 inches tall, had dark hair, gray eyes, and dark complexion.  His occupation was collier and his residence as well as his birthplace was Dauphin County.  His service in the 9th Pennsylvania Cavalry included a re-enlistment on 1 January 1864 and Mossy Creek, Tennessee, through his final discharge on 18 July 1865.

Additional information on his military service can be gleaned from the 1890 Census of Civil War Veterans and Widows (available from Ancestry.com) in which he stated that he had been a prisoner at Libby [Richmond] for three months and had sustained injuries of the spine and rheumatism.

The Pension Index Card available from Fold3 (above) shows that Joseph Russell was a pre-1890 applicant for a pension [application submitted 18 September 1879], indicating that his war injuries were a factor in the awarding of the pension.  Pensions awarded after 1890 were primarily for old age, whereas pre-1890 pensions most likely had to be directly connected to injuries sustained during the war.  A widow’s application was submitted after Joseph’s death, but the Fold3 versions of Pension Index Cards generally do not give the widow’s name or pension application dates.  However, the Fold3 cards often give the veteran’s death date, which in this case is stated as 13 November 1901 [Note: See discussion of this below].

In the Ancestry.com version of the Pension Index Card (above), the widow’s name is given as Elizabeth, and the date of her application is shown as 6 December 1901.

Joseph Russell was buried in the St. Peter (Hoffman’s) Church Cemetery in Lykens Township.  His gravestone, pictured above, gives the date of death as 23 November 1901.  This date is also confirmed in other sources, but is in conflict with the death date noted on the Pension Index Card from Fold3 which states that Joseph died on 13 November 1901.

Elizabeth [Batdorf] Russell died on 23 January 1903 of a paralytic stroke.  She is buried next to her husband at the St. Peter (Hoffman’s) Cemetery in Lykens Township.

Elizabeth [Batdorf] Russell

Elizabeth Batdorf, born about May 1839, was the daughter of Peter Batdorf (1814-1880) and Elizabeth [Welker] Batdorf (1812-1868).  Her ten children with Joseph Russell were as follows:  Mary A. Russell, born about 1862; Alvin Russell, born 23 April 1866; John Wesley Russell, born 21 July 1867; Joseph P. Russell, born 17 December 1868; Fred or Frank Lafayette Russell, born 22 April 1870; Henry Milton Russell, born 27 August 1871; Margaret L. “Maggie” Russell, born 16 Feb 1873; Catherine M. “Katie” Russell, born 20 February 1875; Emma E. Russell, born 16 February 1876; and Sarah Ann “Annie” Russell, 12 January 1880.

No records have been seen on-line or in print which confirm that Joseph was held as a prisoner at Libby Prison in Richmond or indicate when and where he was captured.  However, the pension files have not yet been consulted, and the information surely must be contained in those files – or in the military records which are also available from the National Archives or the Pennsylvania State Archives.  [Note: As of this writing, the Widows’ Pension Files are being placed on-line through Fold3, but the process has been slow and the records are not yet to 1870.  It will be some time before the widows’ files for 1901 are on-line].

There is also some confusion as to the parentage of Joseph Russell.  In research done for the so-called Lykens Township Book (volume 2, page 101, not published), a connection is suggested (“apparently belongs to this family”) with a Russell/Ressel family that had five children who were baptized at St. John (Hill) Church near Berrysburg, Mifflin Township, Dauphin County between 1814 and 1824.  One of those children, John Russell Jr., born 18 January 1814, married a Christiana Dietrich who was a daughter of John Dietrich and Catharine Dietrich.  However, in Our Dietrich Lines, by William Dietrich, on page 61, a John Dietrich Jr., born 26 November 1799, is given as married to a Catherine Russell who was born in 1806, died in 1878, and was buried at Zion Evangelical Cemetery, Oakdale, Washington Township, Dauphin County.  On page 198 of Our Dietrich Lines, it is stated that this Catherine Russell had two children with the John Dietrich who was born in 1799.  The oldest child named was John H. Dietrich who was born in 1842 and died on 18 April 1916, and the other child was Catherine E. Dietrich, no dates given.

Click on document to enlarge.

In the 1860 Census (shown above, from Ancestry.com) for Wiconisco Township, Dauphin County, there appears a Catherine Deeter (Dietrich), a 60 year old widow who has in her household a John Deeter (Dietrich), age 18 (born about 1842), and a Joseph Rushle (Russell?), age 24 (born about 1836), a laborer.  This lends some credence to the theory that Catherine Deeter was the mother of Joseph Russell and that the father of Joseph Russell may have died before Catherine re-married John Deeter Jr.  Was the child she had with the second husband the John Deeter mentioned in the census, and was this the same person as John H. Dietrich who is mentioned on page 198 of Our Dietrich Lines?  Perhaps the answer may be found in the Oakdale Church Records which have not yet been consulted.

In the 1870 Census, there is a Catherine Deatrick (Dietrich), age 64, who is living in the household of a Joseph Rasel (Russell) in Washington Township.  This could further confirm that this Catherine was the mother of Joseph Russell.

At this time, the information in Our Dietrich Lines seems to be more in line with census information than in the unpublished Lykens Township research.

Joseph Russel (Russell) appears on the Lykens G.A.R. Monument as a member of the Heilner Post who joined after its organization.  While continued research should provide addition facts to verify that this is the same Joseph Russell who was a member of Company B of the 9th Pennsylvania Cavalry, it can almost be certain at this time that it is the same person.

Help is needed to verify the parentage of Joseph Russell.  Perhaps a family member has done the research and has the information.  Clarification and documentation is also sought on the prisoner of war record of Joseph.  Comments and suggestions can be added to this post or sent by e-mail.

—————————–

The photos of Joseph Russell and Elizabeth [Batdorf] Russell are from a family collection.

Category: Research, Resources, Stories | 2 Comments »
Tags: Loyalton, Lykens Borough, Lykens Township, Oak Dale, Washington Township, Wiconisco Townhsip

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on May 27, 2014

Confederate Sergeant. Barry Benson, who tunneled out of Elmira Prison. Benson, of Company H., 1st South Carolina Infantry was a prisoner of Elmira from 25 July 1864 to 7 October 1864.  He had arrived at Elmira Prison via the Erie Railroad from Jersey City, ten days after the train wreck at Shohola, and was in one of the early groups of prisoners to arrive at the Union prison.

At 4:00 a.m. on 7 October 1864, he and nine companions entered a tunnel sixty-five feet long, which they had been digging for about sixty days.  Two of the ten headed north to the area around Auburn, New York, but eight headed south – including Barry Benson.  Those who traveled south did so alone.  Different routes were taken.

Several of the escapees wrote detailed stories of their escape, and these are reprinted in the book, The Elmira Prison Camp, a copy of which is available as a free download from the Internet Archive (click on title and follow download instructions at left).  The portrait of Barry Benson, in uniform, is also from the same book (see top of post).

Click on map to enlarge.

The Escape Route of Barry Benson.  On the map above, the Elmira Prison Camp is designated as #1.  Following south on the Northern Central Railroad, the town of Canton is underlined in red.  South from Canton is Williamsport (#8), Northumberland and Sunbury (#7), Millersburg (#6), and Harrisburg (#2).

Portions of his detailed escape account are presented below, as they pertain to the Northern Central Railroad from Canton in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, to Baltimore.  The entire account can be found in The Elmira Prison Camp, written by Clay W. Holmes in 1912.

After crossing into Pennsylvania, Barry Benson came upon the village of Fall Brook on 10 October 1864.  It was there he took a meal with a man named Michael Adams – the first cooked meal since his escape from prison.  From the time of his escape, he had lived on apples.  According to Wikipedia, Fall Brook is a now a ghost town in Tioga County, Pennsylvania, and has been deserted since 1900 when the coal ran out.  Adams told Benson that Canton was about nine miles to the south, so he headed off in that direction.

At a cottage a short distance from the Adams house, Benson

stopped… to make a survey. All seemed asleep.  The front door being locked, I went to the back door.  It was locked too.  On the banisters hung trousers and stockings.  As I had no stockings I put on a pair; and as I had no drawers, I put on a pair of trousers under mine….

It was nine miles to Canton.  It was a rough way, up mountains, down into valleys.  I saw the moon set behind me, then rise and set again…. I walked all night, stopping but twice, once to borrow a chicken, and once to examine a horse in a pasture….

And at daylight I struck the railroad three miles north of Canton.  By what devious route I wandered this Monday night’s march, I never will know….

In a field just west of the road, in a hollow or wide gully, overgrown thick with bushes, I camped.  I ate a broiled chicken, regretting now I had not taken two, and slept through the Tuesday.

At dark I marched, passing by Canton and its little old church steeple pointing the way to heaven.

Five miles south from Canton I came to a track-walker’s shanty just at the right of the road.  A sleeper snored inside.  A barrel of potatoes stood at the door.  When a man has lived at a hotel in Elmira from July to October he realizes that roasted potatoes go well with broiled chicken, so I helped myself to potatoes, thank you.

In a square hole cut in the wall for a window, was something dark.  I felt of it.  It was rough cloth.  I pulled it gently….  I unhooked to buttonholes from two nails in the wall and drew the coat out.

It was a famous good overcoat, thick and warm, albeit shabby, as it suited my other dress.

Stockings, breeches, overcoat!  What good thing next? ….

A mile-post told me it was 33 miles to Williamsport….

This was a beautiful country.  I knew it even by moonlight, and I longed to see it by day.  On the right, far below, lay a valley, through which ran a stream, and along its course lay farms dotted with farmhouses.  Beyond the valley slept mountains dark and wooded.

On my left hand looked down a mountain, dark with shadows, and at one place a cascade came tumbling down its side, white in the moonray, so sweet the music of its singing in the silence of the midnight.  Now, indeed, truly….

The next day, after spending the night camping near the railroad, Benson encountered a train of box cars filled with soldiers, to whom he waved, and as they yelled to him, he pointed south and shouted back, “On to Richmond!”  He then mused over the idea of enlisting and going down to Richmond as a recruit, and then deserting – of course keeping the thousand dollar bounty.  This idea was quickly dismissed.

On 12 October Benson continued toward Williamsport.

It was good daylight when I reached the depot at Williamsport…. Evidently the soldiers of the day before had stopped here awhile.  Pieces of broken hardtack strewed the ground.  Some were as big as a dollar…

If the people of Williamsport had known who I was, and that I was there, I felt sure they would come out to see me, but as they did not know, and as I had not time to tarry, I passed on.

I walked over the bridge; then the railroad ran on an embankment through wide fields planted in corn, turnips, and pumpkins.  I took a turnip as a sample; the pumpkins were too huge to take….  As I followed the road up Bald Eagle, I picked up chestnuts in the ruts….

Hid between two great boulders, I lay down and slept till late in the evening…. Then… I went down to the railroad…

The railroad now followed close to the bank of the Susquehanna, and the foot of Bald Eagle Mountain – there being but a narrow strip, and the foot of Bald Eagle Mountain – there being but a narrow strip; often the railroad was cut into the mountain itself.  The scenery was fine; I knew that in the moonlight.  That was pleasant to my eyes, but as for my feet, I suffered.  For the soles of my shoes were worn through, wide holes let my bare feet upon the ground.  Not so unpleasant if the road were smooth, but, here, for miles, the road was ballasted with broken rock and I must carefully keep step with the ties.  Walking on crossties is tiresome, as well as monotonous, and after a little of it I was fain to walk again upon the broken rock, and that hurt my feet.

The river being hard by, it came to me I might find a boat and so escape walking…. and there was a boat, chained to a stump.  There was no lock.  I took up the oars and pulled out to midstream….

Some miles I rowed, and drifted – the river running eastward, passing a big hotel on the left bank, advertising itself in a gigantic sigh I could read far out in the stream.  At length came to my ears the ominous sound of falling water, and I was soon aware of a fall below.  I stayed in the boat as long as I dared, then I landed on the right bank again.

Here was a lumber yard, and, as I soon found, a distillery, all in one enclosure….

Benson then found a business coat, better than any one he had.

Traveling the railway again, in a few miles I came to a place where I heard music and dancing.  Near the depot was a large house, lit up – a hotel, I though – and there was the ball  I waited, charmed with the music and the rhythm of the feet….

Under that depot I found a valise…. Some fellow, coming to the ball on foot, had worn his old clothes; arriving had changed, and this valise, hidden there, now held his old clothes.  Did I want the?  Of course….

Some time in the night I crossed the river on the railway bridge, to the eastern side, passing soon after through a deep cut.  When day came, I did not stop, as usual, but marched and rested and slept, at intervals.

Then he arrived at Northumberland, just north of Sunbury, and knocked at the door of a house.

Emboldened by my day’s safety, I turned into the town….

A young woman answered and after he asked for a drink, she gave him some supper consisting of home-baked bread spread thick with butter.

I thanked her and went ruefully away, vowing that whenever the war should end I would come back to Northumberland.

I went back to the railroad; a train of lumber had come it, the engine smoking. I had never beaten my way on a train; was I too old to begin?  Under the projecting ends of boards I stowed myself.  The train moved off, and I was happy.  Soon it stopped, and I waited for it to go on.  I waited half an hour.  Then, crawling out, I found the engine gone.  My ride was three short miles to Sunbury….

Coming back to the station, I found many people there waiting for a train.  I mixed with them. … A whistle blew, and the express train shot up to the station and stopped…. Everybody was getting off, and everybody was getting on….

Off shot the train, and Benson on it….

I stay on the platform, watching though the glass for the conductor to come, collecting fares.  He is slow,  the slower the better…. At length he comes.  I watch till he is nearly at the door.  Then I go down, place my left foot on the end of the bottom step, grasp the rail with my left hand, and swing my body forward, flat against the car…. I swing my body back, and sit on the steps.

Presently, back comes the conductor.  I sit still.  He comes behind me and stops.  I know he sees me….  I know he is holding his lamp over me, looking at me.  I sit still.  I am wondering what he will say….

He says nothing.  He goes away.

And so I sit for two hours….

It was on this two hour stretch of the railroad, sitting on the step of the platform, that Barry Benson passed through the Lykens Valley – through the stations at Herndon, Dalmatia, Millersburg, Dauphin Borough, and eventually arriving at Harrisburg.

Now we are in Harrisburg.  Everyone comes out, and I learn that we change cars here.  It is now twelve o’clock.  At one, a train leaves for Baltimore.  I wait in the waiting-room with the others….

Now, again, I am on the platform of a car….

I watch through the glass.  The conductor comes through the car.  Again I am hanging outside.

Then – a touch on my arm!  I face the conductor.

Benson is asked for a ticket and explains he doesn’t have one and has no money, but is going to York to see his sister who is not expected to live long.  The sympathetic conductor tells him to go into the car and have a seat, as it was less dangerous inside.  Finally, the train arrives at York.

People are getting off.  I sit still, loath to go.  Then I reflect, if the conductor finds me on the car again, after the facts I have told him about my dear sister, he will be suspicious, and he will hand me over to the police…. I get off quickly.

For the next forty-two miles, Barry Benson walked, crossing the Mason-Dixon line and arriving at Cockeysville – only fifteen miles from Baltimore.  Then a train came along and stopped for water.  Benson climbed aboard.  It was a freight train and he was confronted by the conductor.

“Where  are you going?”

“Just to Baltimore.”

“We’re not allowed to let anybody ride on freight; I don’t want to get in any trouble; when we slow up you jump off, you hear?”

“All right, sir!”

By eleven o’clock in the morning Barry Benson arrived in Baltimore.

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For a listing of all other posts in this series, with direct links, click on ShoholaTrainWreck.

Category: Research, Resources, Stories | Comments Off on The Great Shohola Train Wreck – Sgt. Barry Benson Escapes Elmira via Millersburg
Tags: Dalmatia, Herndon, Millersburg, Railroad