Civil War Blog

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on November 3, 2011

This property, known as Lot #57 of the original Simon Gratz subdivision, was held by the heirs of Simon Gratz until 1844 when it was sold to Jacob Buffington (1801-1880) and Catherine [Schadle] Buffington (1807-1869), but they only kept the property until 1848 when they sold it to Leopold Loeb.  Loeb was the owner during the Civil War years and after his death in 1872 the property was bequeathed to his wife Anna Maria.

This branch of the Buffington had other connections in Gratz, unrelated to this property.  One of their daughters, Catherine Buffington (1844-1877) was married to Civil War soldier Edmund Umholtz (1843-1882) and had two children with him during the Civil War, Milton Umholtz (1861-1878) and Henry Oscar Umholtz (1863-1850).  Later she married Aaron Hopple (1847-1891), also a Civil War veteran.  Catherine and Aaron are buried in the Sweitzer’s Memorial Cemetery in Berrysburg.  Catherine’s first husband, Edmond Umholtz, died of small pox in 1882 and was believed to be responsible for starting the small pox epidemic in Gratz in 1882.  For more information on Edmond Umholtz, see previous post, Descendants of Philip Keiser.  At this time, the Umholtz and Hopple connections to the Civil War are the only ones that have been discovered in the descendants of Jacob and Catherine Buffington, but since Jacob was a direct descendant of the Buffington pioneers of the Lykens Valley, he had many cousins who served in the war.  See previous post on Buffington family in the Civil War.

Leopold Loeb (1804-1872)

Leopold Loeb (1804-1872) was born in Germany and was married to Anna Maria Rissinger (1814-1904) of Lykens Township.  A house on this property was built around 1850 by Leopold Loeb.  It was demolished around 1985, being in such poor condition and not possible to be rehabilitated.

The earliest available picture of the house on this property was probably taken in the middle of the twentieth century and is shown above.

Juliann Loeb (1845-1861).

Maria Loeb (1848-1861)

Leopold became a naturalized citizen in April 1837.  He married Anna Maria Rissinger some time around 1835.  With Anna Maria, he had at least five known children, all girls, all of whom were raised on this property.  Tragedy struck the Loeb family when two teenage daughters died in 1861 during the time of the Civil War.  The daughters, Juliann, aged 16, and Maria, aged 12, are buried in Gratz Union Cemetery.  None of the surviving daughters married anyone who served in the Civil War, although all were of the age of possibility for service.

Leopold Loeb had various occupations throughout his life.  He was first a farmer in Lykens Township and then did a stint as a huckster.  After he moved to Gratz, he was a liquor rectifier and a butcher, activities which he probably pursued from this property.

This is part 23 of an ongoing series on Gratz during the Civil War.  Some of the information for this post was taken from the book A Comprehensive History of the Town of Gratz Pennsylvania.

Category: Research, Resources, Stories | Comments Off on Gratz During the Civil War – Leopold Loeb House
Tags: Berrysburg, Buffington family, Gratz Borough, Gratz family, Hopple family, Loeb family, Lykens Township, Schadle family, Umholtz family, Walking Tour

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on November 2, 2011

A revised and expanded edition of Civil War Harrisburg: A Guide to Capital Area Sites, Incidents and Personalities has recently been published by the Camp Curtin Historical Society.  The book which is edited by Lawrence E. Keener-Farley and James E. Schmick, is available directly through the web site of the Camp Curtin Historical Society and at the gift shop at the National Civil War Museum.

Featured in this edition are 60 new pages including articles on the coming of the Civil War, pre-war Harrisburg, the visit of Albert Prince of Wales, and many other useful sections.

A walking tour of Downtown Harrisburg is a centerpiece of this publication.  It features descriptions of thirteen locations all within walking distance of the Harrisburg Transportation Center and Capitol building:  (1) Camelback Bridge; (2) Jones House; (3) Thomas Morris Chester; (4) Salem United Church of Christ; (5) Pennsylvania Railroad Station; (6) Pennsylvania Flag Collection; (7) Soldiers Grove including the Underground Railroad Historical Marker; (8) Capital Park; (9) Hartranft Equestrian Statue; (10) Pennsylvania State Capitol; (11) Pennsylvania State Museum; (12) Pennsylvania State Archives; and (13) Broad Street Market.  The Civil War significance of each is explained and in some cases period engravings or photographs are included.

Following the walking tour, a section on a driving tour of the East Shore Civil War-related sites in Dauphin County begins.  This features the following:  (1) National Civil War Museum at Reservoir Park; (2) Harrisburg Cemetery; (3) Camp Curtin; (4) Camp Curtin Church; (5) Dauphin County Civil War Memorial; (6) Pennsylvania National Fire Museum; (7) Harris-Cameron Mansion, home of the Historical Society of Dauphin County; (8) Midland Cemetery in Steelton, an historic African American cemetery; and (9) Lincoln Cemetery in Penbrook, another African American cemetery.

The final section of the book is a driving tour of the West Shore Civil War-related sites.  These are the following:  (1) Fort Washington in Lemoyne; (2) Fort Couch in Leymoyne; (3) Whitehall Orphans School Monument in Camp Hill; (4) Skirmish at Oyster Point, Camp Hill; (5) Battle of Sporting Hill in Hampden Township; (6) Rupp House in Hampden Township; (7) Mechanicsburg Sites of Mayor Hummel’s House, Ashland House Hotel, and Confederate Hospital; and (8) the Mechanicsburg Museum.

Through the book there are “special features” that elaborate on aspects of the war.

This book is very useful for anyone planning a trip to visit Civil War sites in the Harrisburg area.  While much of the information contained therein is readily available on the internet, having it all in one place while walking and driving around is very helpful.  In some cases, the book notes that the site is not open to the public or that visiting is by appointment only.  In a few cases, the web site is given where directions or hours of operation and accessibility can be obtained.

The Camp Curtin Historical Society and Civil War Round Table, Inc. is dedicated to “educating the public about the Civil War history of the Harrisburg area.”  It has worked with the Pennsylvania Civil War Trails program to develop and create a “unified heritage tourism trail in south central Pennsylvania, linking other communities involved in the Gettysburg campaign.”   Further information on the programs in support of the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War can be obtained through their web site.

Category: Culture, Resources | 1 Comment »
Tags: African American, Monument, Railroad

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on November 1, 2011

During Gratz Fair Week, 18-24 September 2011, there were a number of Abraham Lincoln sightings in and around the Gratz area.

At the Fair’s Agricultural Hall, across from displays of prize-winning apples, was a gold-framed portrait of Lincoln.

In the art exhibit in one of the exhibition buildings, a portrait of Lincoln was hanging amid other works on various themes.

On Thursday evening at the Kessler One Room School House, a portait of Lincoln was hanging front and center in the room, and…

One of the school history books was opened to a picture of Lincoln with the caption, “President Lincoln hated to sign the death warrant of deserters.”

The context of these “sightings” can be explained.

The gold-framed portrait of Lincoln was on loan from a Gratz Historical Society member.  It was the centerpiece of a display of more than 60 portraits of Civil War soldiers representing the award-winning exhibit.  The portraits are part of the collection of resources available through the Civil War Research Project.

The pencil drawing in the art exhibit was by Alexander Stroup of Millersburg, a high school student.  He was a prize winner in the category in which the drawing was entered.

Most one room school houses in the Lykens Valley area displayed portraits of Abraham Lincoln on the front wall and Kessler’s School was no exception.  The Kessler School is located in Erdman, Lykens Township, and is set up much as it was in the early part of the 20th century, complete with period school books, including Hart’s School History of the United States, published in 1918, which was used in the Kessler School as well as in the Gratz schools at the time.

The program at the Kessler School took place on the evening of 22 September 2011.

Category: Culture, Events, Museums, Reflections | 1 Comment »
Tags: Abraham Lincoln, Gratz Borough

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on October 31, 2011

The population of the United States was only about 30 million at the time of the Civil War.  More than a half million lost their lives in the war.  Few went off to war expecting not to return.  Many believe that ghosts of the men and women whose lives were suddenly cut short still wander the earth today hoping to find some satisfactory conclusion to the unfinished business they left behind as living persons.  A whole body of literature has emerged to describe the supernatural phenomenon that has occurred surrounding the loss of so many in such a short time.  Two works are described here – one purporting to be fact and one admitting to be fiction.

Ghosts of Gettysburg: Spirits, Apparitions and Haunted Places of the Battlefield, written by Mark Nesbitt, was published in 1991 by Thomas Publications of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.  Nesbitt, a Gettysburg resident and National Park employee, has put into writing the stories he has heard about and researched for more than twenty years.  The “spirit-tales”, as he calls them, are still being told today by visitors to the battlefield, many of them descendants of those who fought there.  In his preface, Nesbitt states:

As far as finding an event that should supply America with innumerable stories [of happenings after death] – explained or inexplicable – there cannot be one more ripe than the Civil War, that greatest of all American spiritual calamities, the horrible, monstrous manifestation of Cain and Abel right from Genesis, where the two sections of the country tore at each other’s entrails until we were fortunate that either side remained….

More often than not, when the men of the 19th century wrote about the dead of the battles, they spoke of “leaving” them on the field.  in fact, the way they refer to it, it sometimes grows confusing – do they speak of mortal remains, or spiritual?

So it it is perturbed spirits who return to – or remain at – the place where they reluctantly left some unfinished business, or to the spot where they resigned this world too suddenly for their journey into the next, or to some touchstone where they need to find the answer, not to why the died, but why they ever even lived, Gettysburg is as likely a place as any for them to be.

Nevertheless, as these stories will attest, something has been happening at Gettysburg since the battle, a a lot of people have seen things they cannot explain, but were certain enough they saw them to repeat them.  Whether you believe all these witnesses to the unexplainable or not is not part of the caveat.  Nevertheless, here they are….

The second chapter of the book talks of the photographers who discovered mysterious images on the pictures they took at Devil’s Den and of the mysterious stranger dressed like a ragged hippie who pointed out to them where to take the pictures.   Other chapters tell of strange groups of re-enactors that appear and disappear on the battlefield.  The stories seem to cover every aspect of the battle and of the battlefield.

The second book is pure fiction and is a compendium of short stories about ghosts and the Civil War as told by relatively well-known American authors.  Civil War Ghosts was published in 1991 by August House Publishers, Little Rock, Arkansas.  It was edited by Martin Harry Greenberg, Frank McSherry Jr., and Charles G. Waugh.  Stories in this volume are:  “Miranda, ” by John Jakes; “The Army of the Dead,” by John Bennett; “The Shot-Tower Ghost,” by Mary Elizabeth Counselman; “Iverson’s Pits,” by Dan Simmons; “The Drummer Ghost,” by John William DeForrest; “The Last Waltz,” by Seabury Quinn; “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” by Ambrose Bierce; and “Fearful Rock,” by Manyl Wade Wellman.

The introduction reveals why the stories were chosen – for their “drama, entertainment, and power to chill.”

From one of the stories:

“What is it that goes by in the night?”

“It is the Army of the Dead going by.”

“Where on earth are they going?”

“To reinforce Lee in Virginia.  They are the dead who died in the hospital here before the war came to an end.  At the end of the war came peace for the living.  But no one could sign a peace for the dead.  So they, not knowing that peace has come, rise from their graves at midnight and march off, forever, until Judgment Day, to reinforce Lee in Virginia.  While all still went well for the South, they slept and rested from battle.  But when the armies of the North came crowding down and the army of the South began to bend, they who lay dead in the hospital yard pushed off their coffin lids, rose from their graves, and marched to strengthen the bending battle line.  They do not know that peace has come, and so, until the last trumpet sounds, they rise and march to Virginia forever.”

John Bennett, who told that story, was born in 1865, was educated at the University of South Carolina and had successful careers as a writer, mapmaker, guitarist, illustrator and advertiser.  In 1946, he wrote, Doctor to the Dead, based on legends of Charleston, many of which dated back to the Civil War.

Whether a believer or a skeptic, these ghost stories are sure to entertain.  The literature can be approached  from the perspective of fact (as in the case of Ghosts of Gettysburg) or as fiction (as in the case of Civil War Ghosts) and there are many other works not mentioned here that could be included.  Ghost stories, published and unpublished, are sought by the Civil War Research Project, especially if they pertain to veterans who have some connection to the Lykens Valley area.

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Posted By Norman Gasbarro on October 30, 2011

A Civil War veteran, Samuel Ruch (1846-1902), a resident of Lykens Borough, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, was killed on 20 October 1902 in a terrible train wreck that happened near the railroad yard at Wiconisco where Samuel Ruch was the yardmaster.  He was accompanying the crew of an engine when control was lost and the train began moving at about 75 miles an hour.  Unable to brake the runaway train, it finally stopped when it plunged over an embankment, instantly killing the fireman and the yardmaster.  The reports of the wreck reached the Philadelphia Inquirer which briefly described the incident as follows:

TWO HURLED TO DEATH WHEN TRAIN LEFT RAILS

HARRISBURG, Pa. – October 20 – Samuel Ruch, yardmaster at Lykens, and Fireman Warren Tigert, of this city, were killed in a wreck near Lykens today.  They were on board a dirt train enroute to Lykens.

On the down grade the engineer lost control of his engine and it left the track.  He saved himself by jumping.  The men killed were on one of the cars and were hurled beneath the wreck.  The cars were completely demolished.

The Lykens Standard of 24 October 1902 spared its readers none of the gruesome details of the tragedy including descriptions of the dismemberment of the bodies.  Some of the detail in the story has been left out in this blog post in respect to the victims.  A copy of the full, un-edited story can be found in the files of Gratz Historical Society.

A DISASTROUS R.R. WRECK

Two Men Instantly Killed and the Engine and Train Badly Wrecked

LYKENS, 24 October 1902 — Monday afternoon after 3 o’clock our citizens were startled by the announcement that two men had been killed in a railway wreck near Wiconisco, and in a few moments men, women, and children were seen hurrying in that direction.  The scene of the wreck was on the main track at the upper end of the Pennsylvania yard at a point midway between the Wiconisco Creek and where the road branches off toward Williamstown.  Although only ten cars and the engine were wrecked, it was nevertheless one of the most shocking affairs that ever occurred in the history of the road, causing the hearts of even the most hardened railway employees – men who had faced death many times – turn sick at heart and become dumbfounded, for in a moment two bodies were literally ground into pieces and two souls hurried into eternity.

The ill-fated train consisted of N.C. [Northern Central] engine No. 1803, two box cars and eight coal cars loaded with dirt, and was manned by the following crew:  Engineer John H. Fox of Sunbury; Fireman Warren E. Kiger of Harrisburg; Conductor William Wetzel of Sunbury; Front Brakeman L. Bachman of Sunbury; Middle Brakeman L. L. Sturtevant, Sunbury; Flagman William Ganster, Sunbury.

The train is what is locally known as the Harrisburg coal train, as it brings the empty cars here when the collieries are working and takes the loaded ones away.  On Monday they went to Williamstown for the two box cars and the cars loaded with dirt by the N. C. R. R. [Northern Central Railroad] steam scoop now located at the culm banks at that place.  Yardmaster Samuel Ruch accompanied the crew to watch the workings of the scoop.  When the train left Williamstown an unknown man of the steam scoop gang got on the caboose, making nine men aboard.  The engine was turned tender front.  The distance from this place to Williamstown is five miles and the about 110 feet to the mile and it requires great care on the part of the engineer and his crew to prevent a runaway.  The train started gradually but soon the speed was greatly increased.  The engineer reversed his engine applied the air and opened the sand valve, but the train could not be checked and on it dashed to its doom, traveling at the rate of about 75 miles an hour.  Residents of Wiconisco say when it passed through that place it appeared as if there was but one car, and shortly afterward they heard a crash.

To the fact that the tender was in front is no doubt due the wreck at this point, as the great speed at which the train was traveling caused it to sway from side to side until it left the rails, throwing the engine down the east embankment and piling up the following cars in a mass of debris.  Engineer Fox stuck to his post and when the engine rolled over on its side was thrown on the boiler and then from some unknown force in the rear pushed it over, when he crawled out of the cab.  he then shut off the steam, while other parties drew the fire.  Fox, who escaped with a slight injury of the right leg, then looked around for his fireman, Warren E. Kiger, but he could not be seen.  When the train passed the trolley bridge at the east end of Wiconisco, the Fireman was out on the footboard, and Yardmaster Ruch standing on the step of the engine, both evidently watching for an opportunity to jump off.  Their remains were found… under the wreckage of the coal cars.  Brakeman Sturtevant was on one of the cars loaded with dirt and after the wreck crawled out with a slight injury of an arm, which was dressed up by Dr. Ira A. Keiter of Wiconisco.

Fortunately, the cabin, on which was the stranger of the steam scoop crew, Conductor Wetzel, Flagman Ganster and Brakemen Lenhart and Bachman, was uncoupled from the train some distance up the road and its speed considerably slackened, else all might have shared the fate of their unfortunate companions.

After the remains of the dead men had all been gathered up, they were taken to J. S. Reiff’s unertaking establishment and prepared for burial….

The wreck was witnessed by several parties walking along the railway who had to flee for their lives, and also by a number of young men on the grand stand at the Wiconisco ball park.  Two of Mrs. S. E. Engelbert’s daughters who were proceeding to their home in a carriage, had arrived at the Wiconisco Creek Bridge when they saw the engine plunge down the empankment and immediately drove back to Stanley’s drug store and notified him of the affiar, with the suggestion that physicians be sent there at once.

The remains of Mr. Ruch were taken to Sunbury by his son Monday night at 6:45 o’clock and were taken charge of by Undertaker W. P. Roberts.  The funeral took place from his late home on Lombard Street, Wednesday, at 11 a.m., was largely attended.  The services were conducted by Rev. J. H. Weber and C. H. Brosius and were very impressive and the Grace Lutheran Church choir furnished the music.  The floral tributes were numerous and beautiful.  The services at the cemetery were conducted by the G.A.R. and Sons of Veterans.  The remains were laid to rest in Pomfret Manor. 

Mr. Ruch was born in Upper Augusta Township, Northumberland County, and was aged 57 years, 1 month and 21 days.  He married Miss Maria Christian, daughter of the late John Christian, of South Third Street, Sunbury.  He is survived by a wife and five children.  He enlisted in the 131st Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers [131st Pennsylvania Infantry] at the start of the Civil War and served the cause of the North true and well.  He afterwards became a member of William A. Bruner Post, No. 335, G.A.R.  for 38 years he was in the employ of the railroad company.  His first service was in 1869 when he was conductor on a Baltimore coal train running between that city and Kingston, Pa.  For many years he was Yardmaster in the RF Yard, Sunbury, and was transferred to Lykens about three years ago.  He was a member of the Pennsylvania Railroad Relief Fund Association.  He was a man that always seemed to take a delight in respecting the rights of other and was never found wanting in the discharge of his duties.  Sadness and sorrow was truly felt by all who knew him when the sad news of his terrible death spread.

The remains of Fireman Warren Kiger were taken to Harrisburg Tuesday morning, he having resided at 1210 South St., that city.  He was a son oc Conductor E. Kiger of Sunbury, and a nephew of William Kiger, engineer of Lykens Valley accommodation, and was aged 28 years, lacking 26 days.  Last April he moved to Harrisburg and was given a position in the Lykens branch.  When the strike started the coal train which his crew ran was taken off and Kiger was assigned to a pool crew on the Susquehanna division but still retained his residence in Harrisburg.  He is survived by a wife and stepson.  The remains were interred at Port Royal on Thursday.  he was a member of the Relief Fund and Sunbury Lodge Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen.  He was a young man of good habits and was very popular with hsi fellow workmen.  The sympathy of the entire community goes out to his widow, parents and immediate friends.

Kiger was the second husband of Mrs. Christiana Lenhart, formerly of Liverpool.  Kiger was her second husband and the singular part of the affair is that her first husband, William McConnel, was killed by the cars on the same road a short distance below Elizabethville about five years ago.

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Tags: Elizabethville, G.A.R., Lykens Borough, Railroad, Regiments, Ruch family, Wiconisco, Williamstown