Civil War Blog

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on June 10, 2011

Oliver Christian Bosbyshell

In 1897, The 48th in the War:  Being a Narrative of the Campaigns of the 48 Regiment, Infantry, Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers During the War of the Rebellion, was published.  The book was written by Oliver Christian Bosbyshell (1839-1921), a member of the 48th Pennsylvania Infantry.

The book contains the following chapters:

Chapter I — Organization and Muster-In

Chapter II – Hatteras

Chapter III – Newbern

Chapter IV – Newport News

Chapter V – With Pope

Chapter VI – McClellan’s Last Campaign

Chapter VII – Burnside in Command

Chapter VIII – Lexington

Chapter IX – East Tennessee

Chapter X – Veteran Furlough

Chapter XI – Wilderness to Petersburg

Chapter XII – The Petersburg Mine

Chapter XIII – Final Assault and Muster-Out

Chapter XIV – Second Maryland.  Sixth New Hampshire

This book has long been out of print.  However, it is available from GoogleBooks as a free download.  Click here.  To download the book, use the pull-down “Download” on the top-right side of the page, choose PDF, and then follow the screens to open the PDF file.  Save the file to your computer.

Veterans from the Lykens Valley area were part of the 48th Pennsylvania Infantry were:

Daniel Emanuel Artz —- James W. Brennan —- Charles Curtis —- George W. Daniels —- James Dempsey —- John W. Derr —- James W. Elliot —- William Evans —- Jacob Forbes Ferree —- Thomas W. Garland —- Horatio Grim —- Richard M. Jones —- William B. Kershner —- John Kessler —- Benjamin Klouser —- Jacob Klouser —- Ludwig Lewis Kopp —- Daniel Kopps —- Christian Lauer —- William Loeser —-Patrick Mallen —- Lewis A. Maul —- William Maurer —- Thomas McGee —- William D. Murphy —- William Owens —- Peter B. Rank —- Edward J. Robson —- Elias Shell —- Franklin B. Shriver —- William Straw —- Robert B. Thompson —- William Otis Tyson —- Samuel Wenrich —- Jerry Willoner —- William Young

Information is sought on any of the above men as well as any others who should be included in the Civil War Research Project.

The portrait of Oliver Christian Bosbyshell is from a plate in the book.

Category: Research, Resources | Comments Off on 48th Pennsylvania Infantry – Regimental Memoir
Tags: Regiments

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on June 9, 2011

Joseph Ritner Shuler (1837-1910) was born in Liverpool, Perry County, Pennsylvania, the son of well-known gunsmith Joseph Shuler (1810-1879) and Elizabeth Yocum (1808-1867) and the grandson and great-grandson of even better-known gunsmiths John Shuler Jr. and John Shuler Sr. of Bucks County and later Perry County, Pennsylvania.  The father, Joseph Shuler (1810-1879) for a time gave up being a gunsmith in favor of political career – elected as Sheriff of Perry County in 1838 and as a representative in the Pennsylvania Legislature from 1872-1873.

The young Joseph spent his early year in Liverpool which is located just across the Susquehanna River from Millersburg, Dauphin County.  See post on Millersburg Ferry.  When the Civil War began, Joseph R. Shuler was already an accomplished gunsmith, no doubt having learned the trade from his father.  The 1860 Census notes his craft as well as his young family – wife Susannah and two young children.  The 1863 Draft Registration of Liverpool Township names him as married and as a 25-year old gunsmith.  No record has been found that he was drafted.

On 24 February 1865, Joseph was mustered into the 192nd Pennsylvania Infantry, Company H, as a Private.  This was his military service for the Civil War.  When Joseph enlisted in the 192nd Pennsylvania, his younger brother Zachary T. Shuler (1848-1934) also enlised.  However, Zachary (or Zacharias), had previous service in the 194th Pennsylvania Infantry, Company G, as a Private from 20 August 1864 to 6 November 1864- an enlistment that was made at the time he was only about 16 years old.

After the Civil War, Joseph R. Shuler returned to Liverpool and continued working as a gunsmith.  From the census records, it appears that Joseph’s wife Susanna died and he re-married some time between 1870 and 1880.  His second wife, Catherine A. Quiggle (1844-1906) was from Dauphin County. Her mother, Delilah [Matter] Quiggle (1825-1898) was the daughter of a Matter and a Riegle – two pioneer families of the Lykens Valley. Perhaps because of his second wife’s roots, sometime before the 1880 Census, Joseph R. Shuler re-located his gunsmith business to Lykens Borough, Dauphin County.   Joseph is found in the 1880 through 1900 censuses in Lykens Borough.  The 1910 Census has Joseph living in Perry County as a widower.  Second wife Catherine had died in 1906.

Joseph R. Shuler died on 2 September 1910.  He is buried with Catherine in the Liverpool Union Cemetery, Liverpool.

In addition to the brick in the “Walk of Valor” at the National Civil War Museum (see top of post), Joseph R. Shuler is also named on the Lykens G.A.R. Monument.

It is noted on the Lykens G.A.R. Monument that Joseph R. Shuler joined the Heilner G.A.R. Post after it was organized, 27 October 1881.

In addition to all the Lykens Valley cousins of Catherine [Quiggle] Ritner who served in the Civil War and Joseph’s brother Zachary T. Shuler (1848-1934), one other cousin of Joseph has been found who was a veteran – Samuel Morris Shuler (1840-1915). Samuel served in the 77th Pennsylvania Infantry in Company C as a Private from 29 October 1861 through January 1862 and also in the regimental band.  He later served in the 188th Pennsylvania Infantry and rose in the ranks of Company B from Private to Captain, 20 February 1864 to 14 December 1865.  Zachary later had a career as a merchant in Liverpool.  Samuel also was a merchant in Liverpool.  No evidence has been found that either Samuel or Zachary lived anywhere but in Liverpool or they took up the craft of gunsmith.  They are both buried in Liverpool Cemetery along with their wives and some of their children.

More information is sought on Joseph R. Shuler and his gunsmith business in Lykens Borough.  Readers are invited to contribute to to his post with any information they might have to enhance our knowledge of this member of the Shuler gunsmith family, especially during his time in Lykens Borough.

The Pennsylvania Veterans’ File Card is from the Pennsylvania Archives.  Some of the census information is from Ancestry.com.  Some of the information for this post was found in the files of the Civil War Research Project – including genealogical information on the families of Joseph R. Shuler, Zachary T. Shuler, Samuel M. Shuler and Catherine [Quiggle] Shuler.

Category: Research, Resources, Stories | 4 Comments »
Tags: Lykens Borough, Matter family, Millersburg, Quiggle family, Regiments, Riegle family

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on June 8, 2011

An Early Gratz Band. The men in this picture are unidentified, but most probably served in the Civil War.

Returning Civil War veterans, undoubtedly impressed with the pomp and music provided by regimental or brigade bands during their wartime experience, brought the experience home with them.  There was a rapid growth of town and village bands in the post-war period.

There is an account of an early band in Gratz in 1856, the Umholtz Band, that played for the Sabbath School Picnic near the Hoffman Church in Lykens Township.  But after the war, such bands are found more often in the records.  The Gratz Cornet Band, founded some time before 1869, provided music for a parade in Hegins, Schuylkill County, and in 1872, they marched north about three-quarters of a mile from Simeon’s Church on Center Street to a picnic grove in a wooded area.  This became an annual event known as the Harvest Home Picnic.  In February, 1873, there is a record that the band spent $775 for a set of silver instruments and commissioned new blue unforms from a merchant tailor in Lykens.  This band also played at a school celebration in Williamstown, at the Millersburg Fair, and had a special band wagon on which they rode around.

Grand Army Day was also an annual celebration in the years after the Civil War.  An 1887 record shows that bands from Gratz, Georgetown, Fisherville, Lykens and Williamstown paraded around the Gratz Fair Grounds.  The Gratz Coronet Band played to welcome new residents to town, for private birthday parties, for church picnics, and in concert for community events.

In addition to the coronet band in Gratz, a Fife and Drum Corps was organized around 1875 and records show it was still in existence in 1892.  A “string” band was formed around 1886 and may have been the group referred to as the Gratz Orchestra in the early 1890s.  Most of the new groups didn’t last long.  By 1898, in celebration of the victory over Spain, a citizen band marched in a parade in Gratz.

Milton O. Umholtz (1881-1938)

By the time of World War I, the sons and grandsons of the Civil War veterans made up the musical groups found in Gratz.  The Umholtz family continued to take the lead both in the organization and leadership of the musical groups.  Milton Oliver Umholtz, was the leader of a Gratz band that played all over the Lykens Valley and sponsored annual “band fairs.”  Milton O. Umholtz was the grandson of Civil War veteran Edmond Lloyd Umholtz (1843-1882) who served as a drummer in the war and was a member of both the 177th Pennsylvania Infantry and the 210th Pennsylvania Infantry.

Additional information is sought on Civil War veterans who returned home and participated in community bands.  Readers are invited to comment.

See also posts entitled:  The Unknown Military Musician and The Repasz Band.

The portrait of Milton O. Umholtz and the picture of the early Gratz band are from A Comprehensive History of the Town of Gratz Pennsylvania, as is much of the information on post-Civil War Gratz bands found in this post.

Category: Research, Resources, Stories | 1 Comment »
Tags: Fisherville, Georgetown, Gratz Borough, Hegins, Lykens Borough, Lykens Township, Millersburg, Regiments, Umholtz family

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on June 7, 2011

The Repasz Band of Williamsport, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, which claims to have been founded in 1831, is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, continuously operating community bands in the United States.  In 1844, the band accompanied the Pennsylvania delegation to the Whig Party Convention in Baltimore and played for the nomination of Henry Clay for the presidency.  The band traveled from Williamsport, located on the West Branch of the Susquehanna River, down river past the Lykens Valley area by canal boat on its journey to Baltimore, the railroad not having been completed by that time.  See post noting Pennsylvania Canal.

When the Civil War broke out, the Repasz Band enlisted in the 11th Pennsylvania Infantry as the regimental band, this time traveling by railroad for the muster in at Harrisburg on 26 April 1861.  When their three months service was completed, the men were mustered out and returned to Williamsport.  Again they enlisted, this time on 21 September 1861 at Elmira, New York, in the 29th Pennsylvania Infantry – again as the regimental band. Service this time was for less than  one year and the group was mustered out on 19 July 1862.  After 1862, the War Department officially discouraged individual regiments from recruiting men specifically to play in regimental bands as the belief was that soldiers should be fighters first and utilized as such.  As a group, the band members did not join a specific regiment until 1864 when most enlisted in the 8th Pennsylvania Cavalry on 3 September 1864.  Toward the end of the war the 8th Pennsylvania Cavalry was merged into the 16th Pennsylvania Cavalry.  Because the band members who served in the 8th Pennsylvania Cavalry are not listed as band members, it is difficult to determine what soldiers made up the band and references to the band of the 8th Pennsylvania Cavalry are difficult to find in the official records.  However, those men from the Repasz Band who joined the 8th Pennsylvania Cavalry have stated that they played the “Star Spangled Banner”, “The Battle Cry of Freedom” and “Rally Round the Flag” at the surrender at Appomattox – and in reply, Confederate bands played “Bonnie Blue Flag” and “Dixie.”

After the war, the men returned home to Williamsport, where they continued as a formal organization using the Lycoming Opera House as a home.  Unfortunately all the records, souvenirs and mementos of their wartime experience were lost when the opera house was destroyed by fire.

Daniel Repass

Three members of the Repasz (or Repass) family were prominent in the military bands of the Civil War.  Daniel Repass (1813-1891) was the band leader.  His two sons, Milton Repass (1840-1888) and George Repass (1836-1898) were band members.  The elder Repass remained behind when his two sons joined up with the 8th Pennsylvania Cavalry – the sons hoping to serve as band members in that mounted regiment.

A wood cut has survived showing the Repasz Band during the Civil War.

A photo shows the Repasz Band as it appeared in 1886

Click on photo to enlarge.

By 1886, nearly every Pennsylvania community had bands that were formed from veterans who had played in Civil War bands.  In the post tomorrow, the band that was formed in Gratz, Dauphin Co., Pennsylvania, will be discussed.

In 1901 a special march was written for the Repasz Band by Charles C. Sweeney and Harry J. Lincoln.  The cover of the piano copy is pictured below.

At the top of this post, the current Repasz Band of Williamsport can be seen and heard playing the Repasz March in a YouTube video.

Barry Stocker of Klingerstown, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, is a Civil War historian and re-enactor and is presently researching the Repasz family and all Pennsylvanians who served in regimental bands.  Barry is also a member of the current Repasz Band.  His research includes many men from the Lykens Valley area who are included in the Civil War Research Project.  No doubt many Lykens Valley area veterans who served in regiments that had their own bands, especially if they met and knew members of the Repass family, were inspired by the experience and took that back to their own communities.  In a prior post on this blog, The Unknown Military Musician, the portrait of one such veteran was discussed.  Any reader with information on any Civil War military band or musician is urged to contact Barry or post a comment here.

Repass portraits are courtesy of Barry Stocker.  Piano sheet music cover is from Wikipedia and is in the public domain because its copyright has expired.  Repasz Band pictures are from the Repasz Band web site.   Some of the information for this post was taken from the Civil War Research Project or was supplied by Barry Stocker.

Category: Research, Resources, Stories | Comments Off on The Repasz Band
Tags: Gratz Borough, Klingerstown, Regiments, Repass family

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on June 6, 2011

Recently discovered at the Gratz Historical Society Library among a collection of scrapbooks and other original source materials from the World Wars, were eight minutes books from the Heilner Post Woman’s Relief Corps No. 101 of Lykens, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania.  The minutes books might shed some light on the activities of this organization.  Already, in a prior post, one of the projects of this group was reported – the erection of the Lykens-Wiconisco Area G.A.R. Civil War Monument.

Click on picture to enlarge.

The monument’s inscription reads:

Tablet erected by Heilner Woman’s Relief Corps, No. 101 of Lykens, Pennsylvania, in memory of the Men who enlisted from Lykens, Wiconisco, and vicinity in the Civil War, 1861-1865, and in honor of Heilner Post No. 232 G.A.R. of Lykens, Pennsylvania, organized October 27, 1881.

Above the door of the old G.A.R. Hall, the Woman’s Relief Corps is also noted:

According to the sign, the Woman’s Relief Corps No. 101 was organized in Lykens on 12 April 1888.

The photo above is displayed in the Civil War Exhibit at the Gratz Historical Society Museum.  The caption reads “Civil War Woman’s Group, Lykens.”  It is probably of the members of the Heilner Woman’s Relief Corps.

The minutes books begin in 1909 and continue to 1959, with a ten-year gap from 1928 to 1938.  They were donated to the Gratz Historical Society at about the time of its founding (1977) and because of the dates, were incorrectly placed among the source materials for World War I and World War II.

Woman’s Relief Corps were parts of many G.A.R. posts throughout the country and were made up of mothers, wives, sisters and daughters of members.  Their function was to do “work” for the posts, which were strictly male, fraternal organizations.  Often the women were relegated to handling and disbursing small amounts of money to the widows of veterans – rarely more than $5 to any individual, and usually for specific purposes such as rent, coal or train fare.  The funds administered by these auxiliaries were not intended as pensions, but were more or less to help the widows out of difficult situations.  It was the policy in most G.A.R. posts to promote independence rather than dependence and the money collected for “relief” was voluntarily obtained from the male members.  Rarely was money given to destitute men because, it was believed, that manliness and proper responsibility would prevent any men from accepting charity for the maintenance of their families.

The women in these posts saw themselves as spectators rather than participants and the men were content in leaving things that way.  As was said at a California Woman’s Relief Corps in 1893, the women would rather remain as they had been in 1865 at the victory parades – standing on the sidewalks and cheering their “fathers, brothers, sons and lovers.”

The minutes books that were recently re-discoveredhave not been thoroughly examined but a quick perusal of each volume has given a clue as to what can be found there.  The minutes are written in a business-like format with notations throughout as to new members joining, illness and death of active members, and activities of the corps.  The handwriting is relatively easy to read and the books are in very good condition.  No decision has been made on how this discovery will be used to contribute to the Civil War Research Project.

The eight volumes and the dates covered in each:

1. July 1909 – November 1914

2. December 1914 – September 1919

3. September 1919 – June 1923

4. July 1923 – March 1926

5. April 1926 – September 1928

6. April 1938 – November 1945

7. January 1946 – January 1953

8. January 1953 – December 1959

Some of the information for this post was taken from Glorious Contentment: The Grand Army of the Republic, 1865-1900 by Stuart McConnell, published by University of North Carolina Press, 1992.

Category: Research, Resources, Stories | 1 Comment »
Tags: G.A.R., Lykens Borough, Wiconisco, Women