Civil War Blog

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on August 15, 2018

Benjamin Bixler, Civil War veteran, died on 18 April 1901 in Tower City, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania.  He is buried at St. Paul (Artz) Cemetery, Sacramento, Schuylkill County.  His grave marker notes his service in Company G, 107th Pennsylvania Infantry.  He was a private in that regiment, and according to the Veterans’ File Card from the Pennsylvania Archives, he served from 28 February 1962 through his honorable discharge on 28 February 1865:

At graveside, there is also a G.A.R. star-flag holder.

However, other information indicates he may have also served in the 173rd Pennsylvania Infantry during a time he was supposed to be serving with the 107th Pennsylvania Infantry.  The card below shows service for a Benjamin Bixler in the 173rd Pennsylvania Infantry:

There are no dates on the second card.  Referring to the Steve Maczuga Database, the dates of service were from 1 November 1862 through 16 August 1863.

Click on document to enlarge.

From the Registers of Pennsylvania Volunteers, Pennsylvania Archives, the above shows that the Benjamin Bixler who served in the 173rd Pennsylvania Infantry was 33 years old, almost the exact age of the Benjamin Bixler who served in the other regiment.  Was it the same person?

In the West Schuylkill Herald, 30 May 1901, a listing of “Our Deceased Heroes” who were buried in “the various cemeteries in this vicinity.”  The list concludes with some who “have died recently and are buried in out of town cemeteries.”  The list concludes with Benjamin Bixler, Company F, 173rd Pennsylvania Infantry, buried in Artz Cemetery, Sacramento.  Nothing is mentioned about the 107th Pennsylvania Infantry which is marked on his gravestone.

Finally, the Pension Index Card, from Fold3, indicates both regiments as previously indicated, the dates for the 173rd Pennsylvania Infantry, 1 November 1862 to 16 August 1863.

But there are no dates of service given on the second card which was filed with the pension records of the 107th Pennsylvania Infantry.

The conclusion that can be drawn from this is that the dates for the 107th Pennsylvania Infantry on the Pennsylvania Veterans’ File Card are probably wrong.

No second person named Benjamin Bixler, born about 1828, has been located in Schuylkill County.  Which led to the conclusion that the following story about a man named Benjamin Bixler who was the plaintiff in a land title case in Pottsville court was the same Benjamin Bixler who was the Civil War Veteran described above.

From the Daily Miners’ Journal, Pottsville, 5 June 1893:

AN IMPORTANT LAND CASE

A Suit Hung Up in the Courts for Six Years

An important land case which has been pending trial eleven years and been on the long cause list for the last six years, was finished before Judge Weidman Saturday evening.  The plaintiff’s counsel was Joseph W. Moyer, Esq.  William A. Marr, Esq., represented the defendant.  The jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff at 5 P.M.

This was an ejectment case of Benjamin Bixler again George Strausser and Daniel Maurer for the possession of a forty-two acre farm in Eldred Township, occupied by Strausser, though it was shown that he conveyed it to Maurer, his son-in-law, in 1879, while he was indebted to the plaintiff.  Bixler showed the conveyance was a fraud and based his claim to the property on the purchase of a farm from Strausser in 1873.  This farm is located in Northumberland County.  Strausser gave Bixler a general warranty.  After this Strausser’s brother sued him and Bixler together in the Northumberland courts farm and recovered a portion of it, the sheriff putting Bixler off the property.  Thereupon Bixler brought suit on the strength of the covenant in his deed, and recovered a judgment of $1,285 against George Strausser, and sold out the Eldred farm.  The verdict gives Bixler title and ownership and wipes out deeds, mortgage and assignments, which the jury, by their verdict said were fraudlent.

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News articles are from Newspapers.com.

Category: Research, Stories | Comments Off on Benjamin Bixler – Wins Land Case in Pottsville Court, 1893
Tags: Artz, Eldred Township, Sacramento, Tower City

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on August 14, 2018

Cyrus Bitterman was born 21 April 1837 in Berrysburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, the son of Hugh Bitterman (1813-1841) and Susanna [Bressler] Bitterman.  On 18 November 1860, in Millersburg, Dauphin County, he married Louisa McCoy (1841-1892), daughter of William McCoy (1800-1894) and Eva [Bohner] McCoy (1810-1881).

At the time of the Emergency of 1863, when the Confederate Army was approaching Pennsylvania, Cyrus volunteered his services in the militia regiment, 26th Pennsylvania Infantry.  He enlisted at Lykenstown [Lykens], Dauphin County, on 15 June 1863, and was mustered in with his Company D at Harrisburg as a Private, 19 June 1863.  He was 26 years old at the time.  The regiment immediately went to Gettysburg, and as a result of his peripheral service related to the battle, he was recognized on a tablet of the Pennsylvania Memorial.

At the end of the emergency, Cyrus Bitterman was discharged with his company.  Since his service was limited to only about 6 weeks, he was ineligible for a pension (at least 3 months was required).

During the war and afterward, at least nine known children were born to Cyrus and Louisa.  In censuses following the war, the couple lived in Wiconisco (1870) where Cyrus was employed as a teamster; Porter Township, Schuylkill County in 1880, where he worked as a mine laborer; and Lykens in 1890.

Louisa died in 1892.  On 6 May 1892, the Harrisburg Patriot reported her death:

Lykens

(Special to The Patiot)

LYKENS, 5 May [1892] — Mrs. Cyrus Bitterman, for many years a victim of consumption, died this morning at her home on Wall Street.  Funeral will take place from her late residence, on Sunday afternoon at three o’clock.  Deceased leaves a husband and seven children.

 

In 1900, Cyrus lived in Lykens, where he worked as a school janitor.  In 1910 he was a laborer in Wiconisco, where he also lived in 1920 working as a farm laborer.

Cyrus Bitterman died on 5 January 1926 in Harrisburg, at the home of his daughter.  A brief obituary appeared in both the Lykens Standard, 8 January 1926 (1st below), an in the Harrisburg Evening News, 6 January 1926 (2nd below):

Summarizing the two similar obituaries, Cyrus Bitterman was 88 when he died at the home of his daughter Mrs. William Primm, Harrisburg.  In addition to the daughter, three sons survived:  Howard M. Bitterman and Jacob W. Bitterman, of Harrisburg; and William Joseph Bitterman of Baltimore.  The funeral was held at the Heinly Funeral Parlor, Harrisburg and officiated by the Rev. S. S. Carnell, pastor of the Stevens Memorial Methodist Church.  The Lykens paper noted that he was a former resident of that place; both papers gave his burial place as the Wiconisco Cemetery.

The Bitterman family plot at the Calvary United Methodist Church Cemetery, Wiconisco, has a large, above-ground stone marking it; smaller, in-ground stones mark the graves of Cyrus and Louisa – and the stone for Cyrus notes his Civil War service.

Cyrus Bitterman‘s name also appears on the Lykens G.A.R. Monument as a Private who joined the Heilner Post after it was organized.

Category: Research, Stories | 1 Comment »
Tags: Berrysburg, Lykens, Millersburg, Porter Township, Wiconisco

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on August 13, 2018

During the Civil War, John S. Bottomstone served as a Private in the 36th Pennsylvania Infantry (Emergency of 1863), Company C, and as a Private in the 192nd Pennsylvania Infantry, Company H.

In Emergency of 1863, when Lee’s Army was approaching Pennsylvania and the Battle of Gettysburg took place, John S. Bottomstone answered the call of his state by joining the 36th Pennsylvania Infantry, 27 June 1863, which after the battle at Gettysburg, was sent to clean up the battlefield.  He was discharged when the emergency ended, mid July 1863.

In his second enlistment, John S. Bottomstone signed up for one year of service in the 192nd Pennsylvania Infantry, Company H, on 14 February 1865, and was mustered into service at Camp Curtin on 21 February 1865.  It was unnecessary for him to serve his full year of service because the war ended and he was discharged on 24 August 1865.

Pennsylvania Veterans’ File Cards (above) are from the Pennsylvania Archives. Someone at the Archives wrote on one card that John was 20 when he joined the regiment at Halifax, Dauphin County, and that he had grey eyes, sandy hair, a dark complexion, and stood 5 foot 8 inches tall.  He was employed as a laborer and his residence was Halifax.

John S. Bottomstone was born in Pennsylvania on 28 February 1844, the son of Wilhelm Bottomstone (1819-1909) and Eliza [Ettion] Bottomstone (1821-1902).  Some time after the war, he married Anna Margaret Kline (1852-1912), daughter of John F. Kline (1825-1906) and his wife Elizabeth [Cressinger] Kline (1832-1922).  John and Eliza had at least two known children.  In the several censuses taken in his lifetime, he is recorded as a stonemason, as a laborer, and as a bridge watchman.  For a time, he was also employed by the Phoenix Bridge Company on a project in Montreal, Canada.

The above Pension Index Card from Fold3 notes that John S. Bottomstone applied for a invalid pension on 4 March 1899, which he collected until his death, and, following his death, his widow collected benefits until her death which occurred in 1922.

John S. Bottomstone died on 5 February 1910 and is buried at Halifax United Methodist Cemetery.

Previously, John S. Bottomstone was mentioned on this blog in a post entitled Halifax Area Civil War Veterans. and in a post entitled The Gratztown Militia and the Home Guards, a story of the 36th Pennsylvania Infantry (Emergency of 1863).

After the war, John S. Bottomstone openly supported the white supremacist views of Heister Clymer by signing a call for denial of equal rights to African Americans, both those who were previously slaves and those who were previously freemen. The statement was published in the Harrisburg Patriot of 24 July 1866 and included his name, regiment, company and rank.

Heister Clymer was a white supremacist candidate for Pennsylvania Governor on the Democratic Party ticket in 1866, and was previously profiled here on 26 April 2016.

The call for a meeting of Union Soldiers was printed in the Harrisburg Patriot, 24 July 1866, along with an up-to-date list of Clymer supporters who openly supported Heister Clymer‘s white supremacist views and wanted to deny “negro equality and suffrage” even to those who had been free men before the war.

The undersigned honorably discharged Union soldiers, believing that we battled in the late war for the Union of these States, and had successfully maintained it, view with alarm the persistent efforts of radical men who seem determine, practically to destroy the Union we went forth to save.  They would have the community believe that Union soldiers are willing to give up in the hour of victory the great object to which their sacrifices and toll and blood were given….

Therefore we unite in requesting all the honorably discharged officer, soldiers and seamen of Dauphin County who favor the wise and constitutional policy of President Johnson, who oppose the doctrine of negro equality and suffrage, and desire the election of the Hon. Hiester Clymer, to meet in Mass Convention at the Democratic Club Room, Walnut Street, below Third, Harrisburg, at 7 1/2 o’clock, on the evening of the 25 July 1866, for the purpose of electing fourteen delegates to the Convention of Union Soldiers, which is to assemble in this city [Harrisburg] on Wednesday, 1 August 1866.

The Dauphin County veterans who signed the racist petition calling for the meeting were from a variety of regiments and social levels.  Included in the list were some residents of Upper Dauphin County, the area north of Peter’s Mountain – all of which is included in the geographic area of the Civil War Research Project.

John S. Bottomstone was only one of many honorably discharged Union soldiers who openly supported the white supremacist gubernatorial campaign of Heister Clymer in 1866.  The full list of those with a connection to Upper Dauphin County will be presented over time.

Category: Research, Stories | Comments Off on John S. Bottomstone – White Supremacist, 1866
Tags: Halifax, Halifax Township, Hate

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on August 12, 2018

From the Harrisburg Telegraph, 13 May 1922:

Veteran Railroader Ends Active Life

Peter Bowen, age 79 years, a retired Pennsylvania Railroad employee, died yesterday at his home Sunbury.  He was in the railroad service 46 years. In 1865, after his military service was ended, he located at Millersburg, Pennsylvania, where he learned his trade of a carpenter and became a bridge builder for the Northern Central Railroad.

In Sunbury, Mr. Bowen spent practically all of his days working for the Pennsylvania Railroad at the freight transfer here.

In 1914, when 70 years of age, and after a service of 49 years, broken only by the three years when he was in the coal business, he retired from the service of the Pennsylvania Railroad on a pension.

Previously on this blog, Peter E. Bowen was profiled as a Civil War veteran, 74th Pennsylvania Infantry,  who is buried in the Oak Hill Cemetery, Millersburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania- and who is not named on the Millersburg Soldier Monument.  See:  Peter E. Bowen – Laborer, Carpenter and Railroad Clerk.

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News clipping from Newpapers.com.

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Tags: Millersburg

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on August 11, 2018

A monument at the St. John Lutheran Cemetery at Pine Grove, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, recognizes Frederick Eckert Stees for serving as the National Secretary of the Patriotic Order of the Sons of America [P.O.S. of A.].  Stees died on 19 April 1905.

The inscription on the monument reads:

Erected by the National Camp Patriotic Order of Sons of America.  The State and Subordinate Camps of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, New York, and Virginia, and the Commandery General.”

The Reading Times, 5 June 1908 told the following story about the monument:

HANDSOME MONUMENT

MADE AND ERECTED BY READING FIRM FOR GRAVE OF FREDERICK E. STEES

With impressive ceremonies. in which members of the Patriotic Order Sons of America from all over the state and various points in the United States will take part, a handsome shaft monument that will mark the last resting place of Frederick E. Stees, in the cemetery at Pine Grove, will be unveiled on Saturday afternoon.  Mr. Stees was prominent in the affairs of the order up to the time of his death, having filled both national and state offices.

The monument to be unveiled was made and erected by P. F. Eisenbrown‘s Sons & Co., of this city, and is of granite.

Many members of the Sons of America from this city will take part in the unveiling exercises.

At the monument there is a G.A.R. star-flag holder recognizing his service as a Civil War veteran. Frederick E. Stees was previously found on an on-line list of Civil War veterans from Pine Grove. His service was in the 96th Pennsylvania Infantry, Company B, as a Private.

The Veterans’ File Card (above) from the Pennsylvania Archives shows that on 2 September 1861, at Pine Grove, a 21 year old Frederick E. Stees, enrolled in the 96th Pennsylvania Infantry, Company B, as a Private.  On 23 September 1861, at Pottsville, he was mustered into service.  This record also indicates that Stees was discharged at Philadelphia on 1 December 1862, on a Surgeon’s Certificate of Disability.  No other information is given.

The Pension Index Card (above from Fold3), indicates Frederick E. Stees applied for a disability pension on 28 February 1863, which he received and collected until his death in 1905.  This early application is significant in that his disability was sufficient to give him benefits when the rules were very strict.  Note:  The actual pension application and military record was not consulted for this blog post; the nature of his injuries and his injuries would be in those records

The Press Herald (Pine Grove), 28 April 1905, published the obituary of Frederick E. Stees:

Death of a Former Townsmen

Frederick E. Stees died at his home in Philadelphia on the evening of 19 April 1905, and was buried here in the family lot on the Lutheran Cemetery on Saturday afternoon.  The deceased was born in Pine Grove, 27 September 1841, received a common school education and at the breaking out of the Civil War he had entered the service as a volunteer.  At the close of the war he entered the mercantile business, joining partner with William Forrer, his uncle, and conducted a successful business until 18 when he disposed of the store and moved to Kansas City.  Later he returned to Philadelphia, where he received an appointment at the Custom House.  Several years later he was elected Secretary of the National Camp of the Sons of America, this office he served until his death. He was a prominent member of the Order of Patriotic Sons of America and devoted much of his time and means for the Order he so ardently loved.  He was a charter member of Washington Camp, No. 49, of town, and up to his removal to Kansas City, was its faithful secretary.  He was looked upon as the father of Camp 49, and a more devoted and faithful member could not be found on its roll.

On the arrival of the 12:45 p.m. train from Philadelphia, the funeral train was met at the depot by a delegation of Sons of America, members of the State and National Camps, the lodge of Odd Fellows, and many of the deceased’s old friends, the cortege proceeded to the Lutheran Cemetery, when the body was consigned to the tomb.  The last services were conducted by the National officers of the Sons of America.

The surviving members of the family are:  the widow and two sons, Charles Stees and Lewis Stees, of Philadelphia.  The surviving sisters are Mrs. Anna Batdorf, Mrs. S. M. Helms, and Mrs. Harry Gottschall, all of Reading;  also a brother, George E. Stees, of Conshohocken.

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News articles from Newspapers.com.

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An interesting story of the reasons for the founding of P.O.S. of A. is found on-line:

The Patriotic Order Sons of America was one of several Nativist organizations founded in the wake of the anti-alien riots of 1845-46. It was anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic and its philosophy was not that far removed from the Know-Nothing Party, a violent political movement that today would easily be classified as a terrorist organization.

The women’s branch was the Patriotic Order of America. The Free Education they touted was meant to include a healthy dose of Protestant religion to counter the Catholic menace seen to be arriving with recent immigrants.  

The Patriotic Order Sons of America (P.O.S. of A.) is one of America’s oldest patriotic and fraternal societies still in existence. It once had several hundred Camps (lodges) with several thousand members in the United States of America and its territories, but is now only found in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, New Jersey and Louisiana. Its motto is “God, Our Country and Our Order.“

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Tags: Hate, Pine Grove