Civil War Blog

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on March 6, 2013

The Pennsylvania Memorial at Gettysburg, previously featured in many posts here on this blog, now has a searchable name index.  That index is provided by Steve Maczuga on his web site, Pennsylvanians in the Civil War.

Searching is easy.  Just go to the web site, enter the last name of the soldier in the box, and “submit query.”

In the above example, the name of “Keiser” is entered (for Henry Keiser, who was from Gratz and Lykens and served at Gettysburg with the 96th Pennsylvania Infantry).

The inquiry submission results in six names.  Henry Keiser is noted to have served in the 96th Pennsylvania Infantry, Company G.  Simply “Click to View Panel on Monument” and the correct panel appears.  Scroll down to Company G, and Henry Keiser is found listed as a Corporal.  Those with the surname of Keiser who do not have a regiment listed served in the Emergency Force of 1863 and are correctly noted on the monument plaques.

One caveat.  When searching for a member of the cavalry, the “line” regiment number will be displayed.  For example, for the 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry, the results display will read “60” rather than “3”  since the 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry was also known as the 60th Regiment.  The same caveat applies when searching for a member of the artillery.

Also, the name will appear in the index spelled as it appears on the monument, and some names of Pennsylvanians who were at Gettysburg are missing, as was pointed out here on this blog in a post entitled, Correcting Errors on the Pennsylvania Gettysburg Monument.  One of the readers of this blog, in correspondence with the National Park Service, discovered that no changes or additions are permitted to any of the battlefield monuments.  It is now policy for such changes and additions, when proven, to be placed in the park archives.  Corrections, with proof that the soldier served at Gettysburg, should be sent to:  Historian’s Office, Resource Planning, Gettysburg National Military Park, 1195 Baltimore Pike, Suite 100, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, 17325.

The above photo is not interactive. To see the interactive photo, click here.

The second way Steve Maczuga provides to approach the Gettysburg plaques is from an interactive set of photographs that show each side of the monument.  By moving the mouse across the area of the plaques, or to the center of the monument, the names of the regiments or other tribute that appear on the plaques are noted.  By clicking in that area, a full-size, high-resolution photo of the plaque opens.  While the plaques are in numerical order around the base and within the interior (for the cavalry), it is helpful to be able to locate the side and exact location of the plaque.

This feature is accessed from the home page of the site, by clicking on the words, “Pennsylvania Monument at Gettysburg.” (shown above).

Despite the difficulty of compiling a completely accurate listing of all the names that are on the Pennsylvania Gettysburg Monument, Steve Maczuga has done an admirable job in making this index available.  It should assist researchers and genealogists in easily locating a soldier’s name and obtaining a picture of the plaque where the name appears.  The site also remains as an excellent source of searching for a specific regiment in which a soldier served and of getting listings of the other soldiers who served in the same regiment and company.

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This post is the 77th post on this blog on the subject of the Battle of Gettysburg.  Additional posts are expected to follow as the 150th Anniversary of the battle approaches.

Category: Memorials, Resources | 11 Comments »
Tags: Gratz Borough, Lykens Borough

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on March 5, 2013

A listing of the February 2013 posts on The Civil War Blog with direct links:

Rev. Lewis D. Steckel – Reformed Minister of Lykens

Frederick W. Yingst – Carpet Dealer of Harrisburg

Dr. Jacob W. Shope – Physician of Halifax and Harrisburg

Rev. Hugh A. Loague – Catholic Priest at Williamstown

January 2013 Posts

Brothers Who Were Colonels – Francis Asbury Awl and John Wesley Awl

Civil War Veteran Burials at St. Paul’s Cemetery, Tower City (Part 1 of 6)

Civil War Veteran Burials at St. Paul’s Cemetery, Tower City (Part 2 of 6)

Civil War Veteran Burials at St. Paul’s Cemetery, Tower City (Part 3 of 6)

Schifferstadt Architectural Museum

On the March: 50th PA at the Battle of South Mountain

Visiting South Mountain Battlefield

Civil War Veteran Burials at St. Paul’s Cemetery, Tower City (Part 4 of 6)

Civil War Veteran Burials at St. Paul’s Cemetery, Tower City (Part 5 of 6)

Civil War Veteran Burials at St. Paul’s Cemetery, Tower City (Part 6 of 6)

Abraham Lincoln on Stamps – Regular Issues of the 1920s to the Early 1950s

Henry O. Witman – Physician and Citizen Soldier of Halifax

National Banking Act of 1863

Former Presidents Who Were Alive During the Civil War

The Enty Family in the Civil War (Part 1 of 4)

The Enty Family in the Civil War (Part 2 of 4)

The Enty Family in the Civil War (Part 3 of 4)

The Enty Family in the Civil War (Part 4 of 4)

Four Men Named Henry Zerby

News of the Day: February 25, 1862

The “Colored” G.A.R. Posts of Pennsylvania

Pope Pius IX – The Vatican, Lincoln and the Civil War

Events of the World: Feb 1863

Category: Overviews | Comments Off on February 2013 Posts
Tags: Table of Contents

Posted By Brian Tomlin on March 4, 2013

This is the first of a ten part series on the “Victorian home,” a general term used to describe the types of houses and home life during the Civil War. Part one is an overview of a variety of topics relating to home life during the period. The remaining posts in the series will each take one room or area of a typical home and discuss the use, design and decoration from the mid-nineteenth century in America. 

Types of Homes

American homes in the Civil War period varied tremendously. In the North, there were the pre-existing frame and brick houses, while a few Southern families lived in grand plantation houses. Out west, the prairies saw fewer log cabins and more sod houses. The development of balloon-frame housing, a technique to create pre-fabricated houses, made frame houses more affordable for working-class families. In the crowded areas of the cities, many lived in boardinghouses and makeshift shacks and shanties. Apartments were another option for the working poor in the cities of the Northeast. Apartments originated in France, and first appeared in New York and New Orleans a few years before the war.

Home Ownership

Home ownership was less common in the nineteenth century than the twentieth century or today. Generally only upper-middle class and wealthy people owned their homes in cities. Even in rural areas like Gratz, many people rented their homes and businesses. Below is from a study done by the University of California examining rates of home ownership in seen New York counties during the 1860s. It is interesting to note that only one-third people owned thier own homes in the 1860s. In sharp contrast, in 2009 in the U.S. 69.4% of all homes were owner occupied.

The full home ownership study contains further data about the late nineteenth century.

Types of Rooms

From the grandest homes to the most modest, the same principles of organization of the house applied. The space was divided into public and private spaces. The most public spaces were used for entertaining, and in homes where the occupants could afford the dedicated space, were reserved solely for company and often took up a large percentage of the household decorating budget. Next was the room or rooms that the family actually did its daily living in; in modest homes this room would combine as a sitting room, family dining room and sometimes even the kitchen. Chambers were the bedrooms, sometimes with smaller rooms attached called dressing rooms for changing and storing clothes. This is the way houses were designed, at least. Some families were so large that rooms that were designed as living, eating or dressing rooms had to do duty as sleeping rooms. It was not uncommon for families to have up to 12 children.

People renting apartments generally had two rooms: a bedroom and a sitting room. In cases where the family ran a shop of some kind, the shop was in the front, with personal space behind and/or above the store.

Houses like the ones in town in Gratz, had a collection of outbuildings that were used to store supplies, house animals, wood, and do other chores such as cooking and laundry.

 Living Conditions

Virtually nobody had indoor plumbing (and Gratz did not get plumbing until the 1920s), so water had to be drawn from a well. The outhouse was used as a toilet and sometimes was quite a walk from the house.

Another problem was that even the wealthiest homes were not very warm in winter. No real workable central heating technology existed. Often coal or wood fireplaces or stoves were used for heating. Typically in modest homes there were not fireplaces upstairs; sometimes the stove pipe came up into room or through the wall to try to help heat the rooms; but bedrooms were cold. People had to wear heavy night clothes ans use layers of heavy blankets and quilts to stay warm.

Lighting was done by firelight, candles,, and kerosene or paraffin lamps. In rural areas there was virtually no outdoor lighting after dark. If someone was expecting a visitor or a family member to return home after dark, they would place a lighted candle in the window. People typically planned events that required night travel to coincide with the full moon.

Examples of period homes:

• The White House during the Civil War was very different from what it is like today
• Compare Lincoln’s White House with the White House of the Confederacy
• The Shields-Ethridge Farm in Georgia is a good example of a small period family farm
• The Rankin House in Ripley, Ohio was a stop on teh Underground Railroad and is a good example of a modest brick home
• Knox Cabin in Olanta, PA is a restored and authentic log cabin from the period

Interesting Articles and Resources:

• a Gettysburg area Realtor writes about the difference between the romanticism and reality of owning a Civil War era home today 
• Discussion and photos of need for preservation of homes from era and what has already been lost
• Survey of nineteenth century building trades and methods

Category: Culture, Overviews | Comments Off on Victorian Home: How They Lived (part 1 of 10)
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Posted By Norman Gasbarro on March 3, 2013

In 1910, John Orth, an immigrant from Germany, was living in the household of his son, Jacob A. Orth, in Lebanon, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania.  At that time, John, a widower, was living on his Civil War pension, which was referred to in the census as “own income.”  The son was a bookkeeper and the household included a grandson and two granddaughters.  When John Orth died in 1916, he was buried in Long’s Cemetery in Halifax, Dauphin County, near where he had spent most of his life (grave marker shown above).  Not much is known about the early years of John Orth – except that he must have been very young when he arrived in America.

At the time of John Orth‘s enrollment in Company B of the 127th Pennsylvania Infantry, he was 25 years old, he gave his occupation as “farmer,” and his residence as Dauphin County.  The enrollment and muster into service took place at Harrisburg on 8 August 1862.  He served at the rank of Private.  The Pennsylvania Veterans’ Index Card (shown above) is from the Pennsylvania Archives.

Most of the 127th Regiment came from Dauphin County, the remainder from Adams, Lebanon and Schuylkill Counties. At Harrisburg… the regiment was mustered into the U.S. service for nine months. Company A was detailed to act as provost guard at Harrisburg and never served with the regiment in the field. On 17 August, nine companies [including Company B of which John Orth was a part], consisting of 869 men, left for Washington and were soon assigned to guard Chain Bridge on the Potomac. The regiment was then ordered to Fredericksburg, where it arrived on 9 December 1862. [On] 10 December [it] became a part of the 3d Brigade, 2nd Division, 2nd Corps, which was the first brigade to cross the river after the pontoons were laid, the crossing being made in the face of the enemy’s sharpshooters, thus clearing the way for the rest of the army. The regiment joined with Owen’s Brigade in a desperate attack on Marye’s Heights, but like others it was unsuccessful, 257 of the regiment being killed or wounded. (from The Union Army)

Available records indicate that on 13 December 1862, John Orth was wounded at Fredericksburg.  At this time, it has not been determined how long it took him to recover or when he returned to his company.

[After John Orth received his wounds at Fredericksburg] the 127th then went into camp at Falmouth.  In the Chancellorsville campaign of the following spring it was with Gen. Gibbon’s Division, which made another assault on the same heights, and this time succeeded. At Harrisburg, May 8 and 29, the 127th was mustered out, having lost 52 by death from wounds and disease. (from The Union Army).

The records of John Orth show that he was discharged with his company on 29 May 1863.  The only clue thus far found that the wounds he received were not that serious is from the 1890 Veterans’ Census.  When given the opportunity to state whether he had any war-related disabilities, no answer was given.

After the Civil War John returned to Dauphin County and to farming in the Halifax area.  Census and other records show that his wife’s name was Sarah, and that he had at least four children:  Anna M. Orth, born about 1868; William H. Orth, born about 1870; Kathryn J. “Katie” Orth, born about 1871; and Jacob A. Orth, born about 1874, with whom he was living at the time of the 1910 Census.

The Pension Index Card (above) is from Ancestry.com and is additional confirmation that John Orth applied for and received a pension.  Additional information about the wounds John received at Fredericksburg is most likely in the pension application files which are available at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.  If any descendants or other researchers have obtained these files, copies would be appreciated by the Civil War Research Project.

More information is sought on John Orth and can be added to this post as comments of sent by e-mail to the Civil War Research Project.  However, care must be taken to insure that the information is about the John Orth who was a farmer from Halifax who served as a Private in the 127th Pennsylvania Infantry, Company B.  As with many other men who served in the Civil War, there was another of the same name – a John F. Orth, who was Quartermaster at Headquarters of the 127th Pennsylvania Infantry.  This other John F. Orth was an officer, and was born about the same time and died about the same time as John Orth, the immigrant and farmer.

Category: Research, Resources, Stories | Comments Off on John Orth – German Immigrant in the 127th Pennsylvania Infantry
Tags: Halifax

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on March 2, 2013

The discovery of veterans who have previously not been included in the Civil War Research Project is now happening on an almost daily basis.  To the list of veterans must now be added Solomon Eyster of Barry Township, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, whose name was discovered in a book honoring veterans of the area around Valley View, Schuylkill County.

In the Valley View area veterans’ book, it is stated that Solomon Eyster was believed to be the son of Rev. George Eyster, who was the first minister of St. John’s (Kimmel’s) Lutheran Church, Barry Township, serving from 1816-1826.  However, no documentation was given for this information.

Solomon Eyster has also been found in records as Solomon Oyster and Solomon Eister.

At Pottsville, Solomon Eyster enrolled in the 48th Pennsylvania Infantry as a Private in Company D, on 23 August 1861 and was mustered into service at Harrisburg on 16 September 1861.

The Pennsylvania Veterans’ Index Card from the Pennsylvania Archives (shown above) indicates that he was 22 years old, had a light complexion, stood 5 foot 8 inches tall, and was a farmer who was residing in Schuylkill County.

Solomon Eyster was wounded twice while serving in the 48th Pennsylvania Infantry.  He was first wounded at Antietam in 1862 and after recovering, he returned to his regiment.  The second time he was wounded was at Petersburg in June 1864, after which he was sent to Mower General Hospital in Philadelphia.

The death record (below) notes that Solomon Eyster died of exhaustion from a gunshot wound in his left shoulder.  The record was obtained through Ancestry.com.

Click on document to enlarge.

The historical marker (below) describes Mower General Hospital, which was razed following the Civil War.

The web site of the Library Company of Philadelphia has a photographic exhibit of Mower General Hospital.  Eighteen photographs of the hospital, which were taken by John Moran are found in the on-line exhibit.

Designed as a pavilion hospital by Philadelphia architect John McArthur Jr., the large facility was composed of a central enclosed complex of administrative and utility buildings. The complex was surrounded by a central corridor from which forty-seven patient wards radiated to theoretically better control the spread of infection. Strategically located opposite the Chestnut Hill Depot of the Reading Railroad, Mower received and treated over 17,000 injured soldiers transported directly from the battlefield between January 1863 – May 1865. Patients were received at the entrance, assigned to a bed in the hospital, and treated by a staff of nearly 200 surgeons, nurses, and ward masters whose work was facilitated by tramways within the wards and specially designed carts to provide medical supplies and food.

The print shown below is from Wikipedia and shows the physical arrangement of the hospital, with the administrative buildings in the center and the central corridor, from which the 47 patient wards radiated.

After his death on 20 August 1864, the remains of Solomon Eyster were returned to his family in Barry Township, Schuylkill County, for burial.

The mother of Solomon Eyster, Sarah [Merkel] Eyster, applied for pension benefits in 1879, about the same time as her husband George Eyster died (Solomon’s father).  She was able to receive a pension based on her son’s service (Pension Index Card shown above from Ancestry.com).

Solomon’s place of burial is noted on a Pennsylvania Archives Burial Record Card (below) which are available through Ancestry.com.

The grave marker of Solomon Eyster is located in a small, private cemetery in Deep Creek Valley, Barry Township, Schuylkill County, and is shown above (from Findagrave).

Deep Creek Valley, the part of Barry Township where Solomon Eyster lived and is buried, crosses the township from east to west and can be seen on the 1855 map above (the words “Deep Creek” appear just above the “RR” in the word “Barry).  To the left (or west) is Hegins Township, a part of which touches Dauphin County.

If any readers have additional information about Solomon Eyster, his family or his military service – particularly stories and pictures – the submissions would be gratefully received.  Contact:  e-mail.

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Pennsylvania Veterans’ Index Cards are from the Pennsylvania Archives.  The map of Barry Township from 1855 is also from the Pennsylvania Archives and is cropped from a larger map of Schuylkill County.  The initial information about Solomon Eyster was obtained from Our Veterans, Our Local Heroes.

Category: Research, Resources, Stories | Comments Off on Solomon Eyster of Barry Township – Died at Mower General Hospital, Philadelphia
Tags: Barry Township, Hegins Township, Valley View