Note that I do not update statistics on this page when I get new (or better) data. Check the regimental statistics page, or search the database, for more current statistics.
| #277 | Ancestry.com has started digitizing the IRS tax assessment lists. While I suspect many of the lists will be difficult to use (because they lack crucial location information), a quick search located Edgar Gregory in the May 1863 annual list. He was living at 1438 North 13th Street (which confirms his identity), had an income of $736, and owed tax of $22..08 (at a rate of 3%). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #276 | Four of the extant orders from the 91st mention drills. (1) General Order Number 18, 8 May 1862, required two daily drills, each lasting one-and-one-half hours, one in the "school of the company" and the other in the "school of the battalion". (2) General Order Number 2, 7 March 1864, required two daily drills (squad or company), one hour each. (3) General Order Number 7, 13 April 1864, required skirmish drills on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. (4) General Orders 2, 6 June 1865, requires company commanders to drill all men 7-8 AM and 4-5 PM every day except Sunday. It also requires the Officer of the Day to report any company commanders violating this order--perhaps this was problematic because the war was over. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #275 | The Military Order of the Loyal Legionof the United States included, besides Peter Keyser, one of its founders, eight other "Original Companions" who had served in the 91st: James B Diehl, Franklin B Gilbert, Joseph Gilbert, Matthew Hall, William LeTourneau, Lewis T Matlack, Howard W Shipley, and John H Weeks. At least two other members of the 91st were also membersof MOLLUS: Alpheus Bowman and Charles Houghton. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #274 | In July 1864, Corporal John Neville was responsible for feeding 4,200 men at Camp Cadwallader. One man described him as "an efficient and worthy officer", who was "just the right man in the right place". He apparently had to stop fights in addition to feeding the men! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #273 | Besides being an ardent abolitionist, Edgar Gregory was also an ardent temperance advocate. His involvement seems to date back at least to 1844, when he became a vice president of the Ohio State Temperance Society. It continued through the end of his life--for example, in April 1870 (the year before he died), he gave a talk at a temperance meeting. | #272 | According to one book, at least three men who served in the 91st Pennsylvania were Jewish: Corporal Goldberg, company A (perhaps Isaac Goldbecker), Morris Kayser, first lieutenant and captain, company B, and Isaac Goodman, private, corporal, and sergeant, company F. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #271 | After the Battle of Fredericksburg, part of Company E, commanded by Captain Lentz, was left alone in Fredericksburg after the rest of the Army of the Potomac had retreated. At least three problems led to this. First, Baker and a detachment returned as Lentz was leaving the 91st to report to Lieutenant Colonel Rowe (126th Pennsylvania). Although Colonel Gregory ordered Baker to follow Lentz, no one ever told Lentz that Baker was present. Second, although the Lieutenant ordered to convey the order to retreat was familiar with the picket line where the detachments from the 91st and from Berdan's Sharpshooters were posted, he was not familiar with the detachments, and did not even know the commanders' names. Third, when Bonsall passed on the order to the commander of the Berdan's Sharpshooters, and Lieutenant Baker said that they would be left by themselves, Bonsall assumed that Baker was the commander of the 91st's Company E, and passed on the orders to him without confirming his identity. Finally, Baker testified that Bonsall "later" told him that he had passed on the order to Lentz. Perhaps Baker became worried, and tried to confirm that Lentz had been notified. If so, Bonsall must not have recognized Baker as the person he had notified. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #270 | I have some evidence of men living in 54 of Pennsylvania's 67 counties. Most lived in Philadelphia, unsurprisingly, with peaks in other counties from which the 91st received drafted men and substitutes--Adams and Bedford (with smaller numbers in Blair and perhaps Somerset). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #269 | A higher percentage of men who were mustered in in 1861 deserted (22%) than of men who were mustered in in 1865 (13%). This is somewhat surprising, since a rough division of desertion rates by time of service, excluding men who served less than 10 days (94% of whom deserted) does not show an increase in desertions with increased service time:
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #268 | I have only limited evidence about cooking arrangements in the 91st. At least by 1863, most officers seem not to have had personal cooks. For example, on 5 August 1863, only Captain Gregory had a cook, and on 4 October 1864, no enlisted men were employed as cooks (or other servants). On 23 June 1863, company cooks seem to have been more integrated into their companies, since they were ordered to remain armed and to be considered present for duty while in camp, and were permitted to guard the regimental teams only when the regimental commander thought the teams were far enough from the regiment to be in danger. (Since this was probably a response to a Brigade order, we can't be sure that this represents a change in regimental practice.) And on 31 January 1865, only one company had a company cook, with the men from the other companies organized in messes by their tents. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #267 | Abel Deihl deserted from the 91st after not quite one year's service. However, he later enlisted in the Twelfth New Hampshire Infantry, and served from December 1863 through June 1865. He was even wounded in July 1864, near Petersburg (while "answering a call of nature at the sink"). He was initially granted a pension because of his honorable service in the 12th New Hampshire, despite his having deserted from the 91st. But in 1915, a new Acting Commissioner ordered that his pension be ended. In 1921, the relevant House and Senate committees recommended that his widow be granted a pension. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #266 | Although Thomas Jay "was a staunch Democrat all his life", he named at east three of his sons after Union generals--McClellan (born about 1866), Sheridan (born in 1867), and Sherman (born in 1891). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #265 | Nathan Koshland (A) made the mistake of stealing food from a sergeant. He was court-martialed, and served the rest of his enlistment at hard labor. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #264 | I have now found (probable) 1930 census entries for six (6) men who served in the 91st, and twentytwo (22) of their widows. Only one of the men, Andrew Ankeney, was working (as a farmer). (Ankeney is also the only man I have so far found in all nine censuses (1850-1930) I have checked.) Two (2) were married; four (4) were widowed. Eleven (11) of the households had a radio; seventeen (17) did not. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #263 | I now know of two veterans of the 91st who served in the Pennsylvania legislature: John Ennis was in the House of Representatives in the 1889, 1891, and 1893 sessions, and Joseph Sinex was in the House of Representatives in the 1883 session. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #262 | We've known for some time that John Lentz and some of his company were left behind when the rest of the army retreated after the Battle of Fredericksburg. Now more of the story is clear. According to a sketch in the 126th PA's history, Lentz and part of his company, along with some of Berdan's sharpshooters, were placed under the command of Colonel Rowe. Rowe ordered Lieutenant Bonsall to pass them his order to fall in as skirmishers on the 126th's flank and rear when the 126th began moving toward the town. Unfortunately, when Lieutenant Bonsall asked for the officer commanding the party, he was directed to another officer, who did not pass the orders on to Lentz. Bonsall was court-martialed but restored to duty, although he "was not found wholly blameless". The officer of the 91st who did not pass on the order was found guilty, and the court martial "inflicted upon him a sentence of extraordinary severity", which General Humphreys did not approve. I have sent for a copy of Bonsall's court-martial record, which should add more to our understanding of this incident. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #261 | Abraham Weigle, who served for 3-1/2 months in 1865, died in 1922, after being struck by an automobile when he stepped back into its path, probably because he was blinded by the lights. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #260 | At least one man who served in the 91st became a millionaire. Joseph T Jones made his money in the Pennsylvania oil fields. After initially failing, he finally struck oil, with his thirteenth well. He eventually largely founded the city of Gulfport, Mississippi. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #259 | During the Battle of Gettysburg, on the night of 2 July 1863, William Reiff and James Thompson were placed about 125 feet in front of the wall the regiment built on Little Round Top. They were exhausted, and couldn't stay awake even when they rubbed pepper, onion juice, and tobacco in their eyes. Lieutenant Joseph Jones--whom they affectionately called 'Josie' then--found two men to relieve them for two hours, after which they were able to stay awake until morning. Thompson was ordered back before Reiff, who ran back under "a shower of leaden bullets", which fortunately missed him. He fell asleep just behind the wall, and didn't notice the solid shot and shells exploding all around him. (See his 'Josie and I at Gettysburg'.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #258 | Benjamin Tayman seems to have been caught in a conflict between two generals. According to General Humphreys, General Tyler made "false accusations against him [sc. Tayman] in connection with the battle of Chancellorsville". Humphreys claims that Tyler made these accusations because he knew that Humphreys had a "good opinion" of Tayman, and Tayman had "great regard" for Humphreys. According to the regiment's consolidated morning reports, Tayman was under arrest by order of General Tyler beginning 13 May 1863, but on 11 June 1863, the Corps Commander, Major General Sykes, ordered Tayman "honorably released and restored to duty". (See Henry H. Humphreys, Andrew Atkinson Humphreys: a biography, pages 265-267.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #257 | William Reiff decided to play a practical joke on Billy Cain (of company H), who was constantly eating. Reiff placed a large toad in Cain's haversack. When Cain discovered it, he said "Whativer [sic] is this? A straddle bug?" His zoological acumen earned him the nickname "Straddle Bug Billy". (See Reiff's 'A straddle bug'; I have not been able to identify this Billy Cain.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #256 | Adrian Beaugureau was born in France and came to the United States when he was about seven years old. He taught in the Oxford Female College for eighteen years, and then ran an art store, called "The Art Emporium". Although he had been raised a Catholic, "his army experience and four years' exposure to the rigid Calvinistic faith" led him to become a Presbyterian. Perhaps the influence of Colonel (later General) Edgar Gregory was important there. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #255 | Soldiers' families were not immune from tragedy. One soldier, probably Samuel Griffith, had a seventeen-year-old son, Samuel Griffiths, who worked at an ammunition factory in Philadelphia. In March 1862, while they were trying to fulfill a contract for a million and a half cartridges, the factory exploded, killing at least eleven people. Samuel Griffiiths was badly injured in the explosion. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #254 | Just before Jesse Wharton was shot, according to a newspaper account, the 91st and other regiments assigned to defend Washington DC went through a surprise exercise. An alarm was raised during the night of 19 April, resulting in the 90th and 91st Pennsylvania moving to the Long Bridge, taking thirty minutes to reach it. According to another report in the same paper, the prisoners in the Old Capitol Prison thought that the Confederate Army was on the opposite side of the Potomac River, and that they would soon be freed. They therefore "became very insolent to the guards, and could scarcely be kept in subjection". This report claims that Wharton's shooting was the culmination of "the affair". | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #253 | The story of Stephen Kelly, who found his own grave in the National Cemetery at Gettysburg, apparently received national attention. One story, apparently from the National Tribune, was widely reprinted in June and July 1886. (In a brief note, the Philadelphia North American managed to get his service wrong, describing him as "a New York veteran".) One Colorado newspaper noted his death with the rather sad comment that "Kelly was never married, and lived like a hermit at his house, which is a dilapidated-looking place. He was taken ill a few weeks ago, and refused to be removed to a more cheerful place or to have a nurse." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #252 | In 1899, William Carpenter was reported as endorsing Dr Branaman's treatment, which apparently cured him of asthma, his son of scarlet fever, and his wife of catarrh of the throat. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #251 | One contemporary newspaper article described Colonel Gregory as the "energetic and popular Provost Marshal" of Alexandria, but later gives a different impression, by suggesting that Gregory would appreciate support from "some of our Alexandria ladies, who now express so much indignation at his every official act". | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #250 | Monroe Bowne "was of imposing personal appearance--massive frame, well proportioned, powerful man, six feet high, and weighing more than three hundred pounds". | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #249 | By 1870, little is correlated with the soldier's marital status. 96% of married men owned property, as opposed to 88% of all men. And a higher percentage of artisans were unmarried (41% of artisans, 36% of all men), and a higher percentage of semi-professionals and smaller proprietors were married (76%, 64% of all men). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #248 | Men who were married in 1860 were far more likely to own property than men who weren't--96 of 125 (77%) apparently married men owned some property, while only 6 of 117 (5%) apparently unmarried men owned some property. They were also more likely to be semi-professionals and small proprietors, and agricultural workers. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #247 | Being married in 1860 does not seem to have affected the rates of reenlistment or of death while in the regiment, but may have slightly increased the rate of desertion, since 5 of 114 men (4%) with no apparent spouse in the 1860 census deserted, while 13 of 122 men (11%) with an apparent spouse deserted. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #246 | (I now have more than 2,000 census entries for men who served in the 91st or their widows!) In 1860, manual laborers were about as likely as the regiment as a whole to be married. However, artisans, professionals, and semi-professionals were more likely than the regiment as a whole, and (unsurprisingly) men who weren't working were far less likely, to be married. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #245 | Jacob Bolin, who served in the 91st after he was drafted in 1865, had previous experience with the Confederate Army--but as a civilian, not as a soldier. When the Confederate Army invaded Pennsylvania in 1863, they took a saddle, a halter and chain, a buggy whip, and lumber from his farm, and damaged his corn, burned rails, and used and destroyed hay (6). He applied for damages on 22 October 1868, and was awarded $100.50 on 23 November 1871 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #244 | Almost one-fifth of the men for whom I have found 1850 census entries were married in 1850, and half of the men for whom I have found 1860 census entries were married in 1860. (This surely overstates the percentage of married men, since identifying men in the censuses is much easier if they are married.) Unsurprisingly, more drafted men were married in 1860 (58%) than volunteers (49%) or substitutes (29%). Equally unsurprisingly, more men who started as commissioned officers were married in 1860 (69%) than those who did not (49%). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #243 | Drafted men were on average slightly taller than volunteers or substitutes:
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #242 | Andrew Ankeny was working as a farmer in 1930, when he was 85 years old! (The other three men I have so far found in the 1930 census were not working.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #241 | 118 (13%) of the men who had joined the regiment by 4 November 1861 died while in the regiment; only 69 (6%) of the men who had not did. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #240 | One of the members of the 91st who joined the regular army after the war was Harold Partenheimer, who enlisted on 26 March 1866. He was assigned to company G of the 18th US Infantry, which was assigned to Fort CF Smith, on the Bozeman Trail, in August 1866. He died on 4 November 1867, while defending a wagon train traveling from Fort Phil Kearny to Fort Smith. (See the commanding officer's report.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #239 | George Hampton must have had excellent secretarial skills--he was the secretary of a committee memorializing company E's dead, and was also the first secretary of the survivor's association. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #238 | While most men who served in the 91st stayed in Pennsylvania after the war, census records indicate that men from the 91st lived in at least 32 states. Pension index cards add another three (Georgia, Mississippi, and Utah), and deaths add Montana. The only states remaining (excluding Hawaii and Alaska) are Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Nevada, North Dakota, South Dakota, Idaho, Oregon, New Hampshire, and Vermont. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #237 | According to 'What might have been', by Thomas Moore, the brigade the 91st was in (3rd brigade, 1st division, 5th corps) may have significantly affected the battle of Five Forks. On the 31st of March, they mistakenly advanced six miles beyond the main Union line, almost to the Confederate camp. Moore suggests that Pickett withdrew to Five Forks because he misinterpreted their brigade as the advance force of the Fifth Corps. I have not yet confirmed or refuted this suggestion. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #236 | Edgar Gregory was US Marshal for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania from 1869 until his death in 1871. Two incidents suggest that this was not a purely administrative job. First, as US Marshal, Gregory was responsible for enforcing the Neutrality Laws. On 14 August 1869, the district attorney asked him to stop the steamer Hornet, because some reports claimed the Cuban Junta (then fighting the "Ten Years' War" for independence from Spain) had outfitted her as a privateer. Gregory himself "at once employed a tug, and proceeded down the river, with a view to intercept the revenue cutter Miami, Captain Jones commanding", which he did about 6.30 AM. Second, on 27 April 1870, Gregory led a raid on a Richmond distillery on Monmouth Street above Richmond. They weren't detected by the distiller's guards on the way in, because they hid themselves in a wagonload of hay (apparently a novel strategem!). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #235 | A newspaper article about the 91st's departure in 1862 suggests that they were expected to go to Kentucky after being inspected at Washington, DC. (I have not seen any other evidence about their expectations.) Instead, they spent months in Washington, DC and in Arlington, Virginia. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #234 | During the Battle of Gettysburg, on 2 July 1863, William Reiff fainted from the heat and exhaustion, but was roused when George Finney (commanding the company) threw water in his face. While he was on Little Round Top, a sharpshooter, in front of Devil's Den, barely missed him, "simply helping to brush the hair off [his] right temple". Reiff returned the shot with greater effect. (See W C Reiff, 'Struggle for the Union. Trials of a boy in the Gettysburg campaign' (National Tribune 6 August 1896). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #233 | During the 1870 election in Philadelphia, Edgar Gregory intervened to prevent a riot and to force the police to all colored men to vote. On the previous day, Mayor Fox had assured Governor Geary that he didn't anticipate any problems, but could handle any that arose. When he learned that Gregory had Marines patrolling the street to preserve order, he immediately wrote Gregory claiming that this was illegal--because Fox had not requested federal intervention--and unnecessary, since his personal inspection revealed no problems. \He demanded "the instant disbandment of this armed force". Gregory replied that the Marines were needed because Fox's police were preventing colored voters from voting, and had even arrested the deputies Gregory sent. Further, his intervention was lawful under the act of 3 March 1870. Perhaps the fact that Fox was a Democrat, and the African American voters were overwhelmingly Republican, was relevant here. (Fox won the 1869 election by only 1,838 votes of 121,196.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #232 | In a meeting in Baltimore in September 1867, Gregory claims that "[t]he sufferings endured by the Union soldiers during the rebellion ... were not intended to save the life of the nation, but were [to ensure] that four million people for whom Christ died might be set at liberty for ever." [quoted in Fuke Imperfect equality pp.187-188, citing Baltimore American 4 September 1867] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #231 | William J Kirkpatrick, who served as Fife Major until 9 October 1862, became a well-known composed and editor of religious music after the war. His career started before the war when he impressed an editor by transcribing and arranging a song as someone sang it. After the war he worked at a furniture store, until his first wife died. He edited over a hundred collections of religious music, and died while working on music. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #230 | Thomas Walter was cashiered by sentence of court martial. In November 1868, the US Army's Assistant Adjutant-General wrote to the Governor of Pennsylvania and to Walter, stating that the government would not object to Walter's being offered a commission. He claimed that "[t]he effect of this action is to remove the stigma resting upon you by reason of dismissal and is equivalent practically to an honorable discharge". (Perhaps Edgar Gregory petitioned President Johnson on Walter's behalf, as he had offered.) Walter's comrades obviously accepted him after the war, electing him Chaplain, and later Post Commander, of Post 8 of the GAR. Unfortunately, no one had the authority to change the court-martial's sentence, as Walter discovered when he applied for a pension. Congress passed a bill in 1902 granting Walter a pension, but President Theodore Roosevelt vetoed it. In 1907, Congress passed a bill instructing the Secretary of War to revoke the court-martial order and to grant Walter an honorable discharge. As far as I have been able to determine, the President did not sign it. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #229 | In 1903, JHR Storey, who had served in the 109th Pennsylvania, claimed that when the 91st was organized, it was split between two factions, with "considerable friction" between the two groups. One consisted of religious men--members of the Young Men's Christian Association or other organizations--headed by Colonel Gregory. Eli Sellers eventually headed the others. According to Storey, Sellers admitted that he "got even with" "those Christian Association fellows", whom he called "Gregory's pets". "[W]hen I got the chance I downed then, and when I became lieutenant-colonel I did get it". | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #228 | One bit of evidence suggests that Edward Wallace (who was the first Lieutenant Colonel of the 91st Pennsylvania) tried raising another regiment in June 1863, after he had resigned from the 91st. I don't know anything more about this. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #227 | Two more bits of evidence about the importance of religion for Edgar Gregory. In December 1861, he spoke at a meeting "to aid at diffusing religious reading in the camps, and promoting the spiritual interests of the soldier". And in March 1864, he participated in a "Missionary Anniversary of the Schools" of the Twelfth Street Methodist Episcopal Church. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #226 | [I apologize for missing the last two weeks, which I missed because of a family medical emergency, which has now been successfully resolved.] Edgar Gregory moved from New York to Cincinnati, Ohio, to start a lumber yard for a company that sent lumber from Pennsylvania on the Allegheny River. (See Samuel A Wilhelm, 'The Wheeler and Dusenbury Lumber Company of Forest and Warren Counties' (Pennsylvania History 19 [Oct 1952] 413-420).) (I still don't know why he moved from Cincinnati to Philadelphia in 1860.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #225 | In September 1841, a mob attacked Negroes in Cincinnati. In his Reminiscences, the abolitionist and underground railroad leader Levi Coffin quotes a newspaper account of the attacks, since he was not yet living in Cincinnati. But he adds a note in his own voice, claiming that the students of Lane Seminary "formed a militia company under command of E M Gregory" to defend the seminary against the mob, who regarded it as the "d--d abolition hole". The mob started to attack the seminary, but retreated because of "the warlike preparation of the students". [See Levi Coffin, Reminiscences of Levi Coffin, page 533] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #224 | Before the regiment left Philadelphia in 1862, the Ladies' Bible class of the North Broad Street Baptist Church, and the Ladies' Aid Society of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Germantown, donated clothing, food, and other supplies, and 'the ladies of the "Union Relief Association"' of Philadelphia donated bandages and other medical supplies to the 91st [see 'Acknowledgement', 'Col. Gregory's Regiment', and 'Ninety-first Pennsylvania Regiment'] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #223 | In 1896, the National Tribune apparently published an editorial criticizing William Jennings Bryan and his supporters. This led to a vituperous reply by veterans from Nebraska (Bryan's home state), including William Mock. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #222 | Shortly after arriving in Texas, Edgar Gregory spoke to the freedmen at their church in Galveston. According to various newspaper accounts, he told them that they had all the legal right and responsibilities of whites, including the right to own property, and the responsibility to earn their own living. Amusingly, several papers reported him as advising the freedmen they would not be burdened by the government, instead of that they should not be a burden to the government! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #221 | According to an 1890 biographical note on Alpheus Bowman, he was "[i]n the field from Dec., '61, to April, '62, scouting country he knew all about". This may help explain the origin of the enmity between him and his first lieutenant, Morris Kayser, since Kayser may well have resented Bowman if Kayser was in effect running the company for those months. The biographical note also claims that he was "[o]n special duty engaged at the battle of Chantilly, Va., Sept. 1, '62; horse killed under him in assault in carrying railroad crossing". This was about the time he was dismissed from the army by sentence of general court martial (on 12 September 1862); perhaps this special service helps explain why the War Department allowed him to re-enter the army. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #220 | Members of many organizations were invited to attend the funerals of some former members of the 91st. For example, George Haines seems to have been a member of seven: GAR post 8, the 91st Pennsylvania's Survivors' Association, the Junior Order of United American Mechanics ("OUAM") (and perhaps his wife was a member of their auxiliary, the Daughters of Liberty ("DOL"), the Improved Order of Red Men ("IORM"), Patriotic Order of the Sons of America ("POS of A"), International Order of Odd Fellows ("IOOF"), and the Sons of Hermann ("S of H"). Eli Sellers' death notice does not even attempt to list all of the societies of which he was a member, but they included the 91st's Survivors' association, GAR Post 2, the American Mechanics (presumably the OUAM), the Ancient Order of United Workmen (AOUW), the Improved Order of Red Men, the Knights of Honor, and the International Order of Odd Fellows. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #219 | In October 1861, four companies had "the old flint lock musket, altered into percussion" ['Camp Chase at Gray's Ferry' Philadelphia Inquirer 19 October 1861 page 8]. In November 1861, they were planning to exchange their muskets for "the improved Springfield rifle musket" ['Camp Chase', Philadelphia Inquirer 30 November 1861]. And in December 1861, they had "the Enfield rifle, with sword bayonet" ("Flag presentation", Philadelphia Inquirer 13 December 1861; and 'The Ninety-first regiment', Philadelphia Inquirer 17 December 1861 page 5 [reprinted 18 December 1861 page 5]). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #218 | The Philadelphia Inquirer's obituary for Edgar Gregory confirms that religion played an important role in his life, and that he was "always ... a determined and outspoken anti-slavery man". While claiming that everyone was satisfied with his performance as US Marshal for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, it also mentions two controversies. First, the enumeration of Philadelphia in the 1870 census was very incomplete, although the Inquirer ascribes this primarily to "the general inefficiency of our census system". And second, during the 1870 election, Gregory intervened to prevent a riot and to force the police to allow colored men to vote, which led to "a bitter dispute with Mayor Fox". | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #217 | In a 'Letter from a radical on the Freedmen's Bureau' published in 1866, Edgar Gregory is described as "a sharp Calvanist [sic]", who "is fixed in the faith, and diligent in the forms of his church". However, unlike another Assistant Commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau, he refused to remove an effective administrator of the Freedmen's Schools (EM Wheelock) merely because he was a Unitarian. It also claims that he had "twenty-five years of Anti-Slavery life". The letter suggests, but does not claim, that Gregory was removed because of his refusal, though the general tenor of the letter indicates that if the author had had any evidence for that suggestion, he would have trumpeted the claim, since the letter is an attack on General Howard (the Commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau) for making personnel decisions based on the doctrinal beliefs of the person rather than on the person's competence. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #216 | In June 1862, rumors had the commissioned officers nearly in open mutiny, with the regiment reduced to 400 men, and Colonel Gregory being too harsh to the regiment and too lenient to the Confederates. The commissioned officers took those rumors seriously enough to publish a "card" denying them. They end by claiming, "we venture to assert that we believe there is no regiment in the service whose officers agree better, or have less difference of opinion". Less than a month later the long-standing tension between Captain Bowman and First Lieutenant Kayser resulted in a fight. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #215 | George Todd, the 91st's first Major, was initially to be the Lieutenant Colonel of the regiment Edward Wallace was recruiting. Both had served in the Mexican War, and both had served for three months as captains in the 20th Pennsylvania Infantry. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #214 | In August 1883, the 91st Pennsylvania Regimental Association dedicated a memorial to the 91st at Gettsyburg. The memorial was cut from granite from Devil's Den. Because the scheduled speaker (General Pearson) was not there, Joseph Sinex gave the dedication speech. He couldn't finish the speech, because he was overcome with emotion as he was recalling what happened during the battle. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #213 | Eighty men from the 91st attended the funeral of Edgar Gregory on 13 November 1871. After that, the surviving men decided to form a "permanent association of the old comrades". They met on 17 November 1871, in the District Courtroom at Sixth and Chestnut Streets, with Joseph Sinex as chair and Edward Maguigan as secretary. They appointed a committee of five men to write a constitution and bylaws, consisting of Eli G. Sellers, Matthew Hall, George F Stewart, Justus A Gregory and George Hampton. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #212 | So far, I have evidence that seven men who served in the 91st lived into their 90's. The oldest was David Stiefel, who enlisted under the alias David Sterle, and was 96 years old when he died in 1938. The others were Asa Johnson (90), Charles Young (90), William Kigert (91), George C Cross (92), Joseph S Miller Jr (92), and Morris Kayser (94). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #211 | I have found entries in the 1900 census for 155 men who served in the 91st Pennsylvania. (I have also found 31 entries for widows, who aren't relevant to this statistic.) Seventeen were not working. Of the remaining 138 men, 31 men (22%) were unemployed in the previous year. (This is twice the percentage of the men unemployed in 1880.) Unsurprisingly, manual laborers (12 of 17) and artisans (14 of 36) seem to have been especially vulnerable to unemployment. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #210 | I have found entries in the 1880 census for 243 men who served in the 91st Pennsylvania. (I have also found fifteen entries for widows, but they aren't relevant to this statistic.) Four were not working. Only 27 of the remaining 239 men (11%) were unemployed in the previous year. Of the nine men who had been unemployed more than six months (one for eight months, and eight for twelve months), only Samuel Amey was not living in a National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. Of the eighteen men who had been unemployed one to six months, only George Hollick was living in a National Home branch. Unsurprisingly, artisans and manual laborers, and perhaps also service and semi-skilled workers, were more likely to be unemployed (though that result is not [yet] statistically significant). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #209 | Based on the extant consolidated morning reports, the number of men absent on detached service ranged from 2 (in April through early June 1865) to 176 (on 18 May 1863), and the percentage of men absent on detached service ranged from 0% (again in April through early June 1865) to 36% (on 17 and 18 May 1863). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #208 | Based on the extant consolidated morning reports, usually about 4% of men present were commissioned officers. The percentage of men present who were commissioned officers dropped briefly to 1% from 30 October to 31 October 1864. At the other extreme, 21% of men present were commissioned officers on 17 May 1863, after the Battle of Chancellorsville, when many men were assigned to the ambulance corps, or as guards or pickets (see 13 May). The percentage did creep up to around 7% from 9 May 1863 through 26 February 1864, but dropped back to around 4% when commissioned officers were discharged when their term expired at the end of 1863 and men returned from the veteran's leave. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #207 | The following statistics are based on the 547 extant consolidated morning reports. The maximum number of men sick (present or absent) was 276 (on 8 July 1864). The maximum percentage of men sick (present or absent) was 44% (on several days in August 1864--the 7th, 10th, 12th, and 13th). On 17 February 1864, on the other hand, only 3 men (1% of the regiment) were absent sick (the lowest number, and tied for the lowest percentage with 18 February 1864)! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #206 | On the days for which we have consolidated morning reports, the maximum total number of enlisted men (present and absent) is 911 (on 29 April 1865), and the minimum is 332 (on 2 January 1864). The maximum total number of commissioned officers (present and absent) is 32 (on 7 February 1863, 8 February 1863, 13 June 1865, 14 June 1865, 15 June 1865, 16 June 1865, 18 June 1865, 19 June 1865, 20 June 1865), and the minimum is 15 (on 25 Dec 1864, 26 Dec 1864, 27 Dec 1864, 28 Dec 1864, 29 Dec 1864, and 30 Dec 1864). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #205 | The maximum gain reported in the extant consolidated morning reports was 161, on 17 February 1864. This was the first report after the veterans' leave, during which 135 men had enlisted in the regiment. The maximum net increase reported was 156, again on 17 February 1864. The maximum loss reported was 79, on 21 July 1864. 75 members of the 62nd Pennsylvania who had been transferred to the 91st, but whose terms expired before 25 August 1864, were transferred out of the regiment and ordered to report to Washington. The maximum net decrease reported was 79, on 21 July 1864. Finally, the maximum change reported was 191, on 2 June 1865, with a gain of 114 men and a loss of 77. 111 men were transferred from the 118th Pennsylvania, and 76 members of the 91st were discharged. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #204 | Based on the changes reported on the available consolidated morning reports (which begin only in February 1863), almost a third (230/735) of the enlisted men gained were gained by transfer; 187 (25%) came from enlistments, and 167 (23%) were recruits from a depot. Of the 907 enlisted men lost, 196 died in action or of wounds received in action, 164 deserted, 150 were discharged by order, and 127 were discharged for disability. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #203 | At least two men who served in the 91st had served in the Mexican War: Edward Wallace, and John P Carie. Wallace enrolled in company F of the First Regiment in December 1846, and was then mustered in at Pittsburgh as a sergeant on 15 December 1846 by Lieutenant Fields. He was promoted to First Sergeant on 11 June 1847. He was discharged on 28 July 1848. I do not know anything about Carie's service. [later note: see also John Donnell, and George Todd] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #202 | Thomas Walter describes the mine exploded at Petersburg on 30 July 1864 in this way: "[T]here came a heavy thud, and immense masses of the rebel earthwork were hurled upward and tumbled over. Smaller fragments of various kind mounted higher in the air, and a cloud of dust nearly obscured the place as our artillery in the vicinity drove their shot into the enemy's works all along. A tornado of destruction struck the rebels with the suddenness of a flash. Scarcely a man of them had been astir; so the surprise was complete and demoralizing." Unfortunately, because of poor decisions by commanders, the opportunity to break the Confederate line was lost. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #201 | Thomas Walter describes the surrender at Appomattox on 9 April in his articles published in 1884. He and others overslept that day, missing the brigade's departure by nearly an hour. After a breakfast of coffee and a few crackers, they followed the brigade. When Walter, who went slowly because he was then under arrest, reached the regiment (about 11 o'clock), they were just to the right of the town, in line of battle, but many were lying down to rest. The men were more interested in when they were going to receive their rations than in Lee's surrender. They did receive hard-tack and coffee that night. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #200 | After the war was over, the number of enlisted men reported present on "extra and daily duty" increased from 61 on 16 May (10% of enlisted men present and 7% of all enlisted men) to a high of 159 on 3 July (25% of the enlisted men present and 20% of all enlisted men), before creeping down to 107 on the regiment's last day, 10 July (17% of the enlisted men present and 14% of all enlisted men). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #199 | Just before the 91st was mustered out of service on 10 July 1865, the number of "guns" reported increased--from 183 on 6 July to 391 on 7 July (and 432 on 9 July). Perhaps the regiment started counting themen from the 118th Pennsylvania, though they had been transferred at the beginning of June. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #198 | Although as many as 221 veterans were reported absent without leave before the regiment left for the front on 2 March 1864, all but a few returned--apparently including John Perkins (deserted 16 February), John Mootheart (1 March), and Charles Austin (16 March).(According to Bates Hugh Callahan deserted on 16 February and never returned--but a letter from Sinex claims that he lost his rifle in May or June 1864.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #197 | Some men from the 118th Pennsylvania Infantry were transferred to the 91st on 2 June 1865, when the 118th was mustered out of service. The consolidated morning report claims that 111 enlisted men, 2 captains, 1 first lieutenant, and one commissioned officer absent with leave were transferred. (However, it also reports that only three commissioned officers were transferred.) Surprisingly, I have the names of almost all the enlisted men (110). The enlisted men were assigned to companies the next day, but the commissioned officers remained unassigned until 13 June. Captain John Bell was then assigned to command company A, and First Lieutenant James Donnelly was assigned to company H, by special order 34, 91st Pennsylvania, dated 13 June 1865. Oddly, the consolidated morning reports beginning 6 June 1865 have three unassigned commissioned officers absent without leave! In any event, the reports for 13 and 14 June have two unassigned commissioned officers absent without leave, and the reports from 15 through 20 June have two unassigned commissioned officers present. One of these should be First Lieutenant Thomas Kelly, who was initially transferred with the other men, but was mustered out effective the date of the transfer, because there were no vacancies. The other should be the other captain who was initially reported present for duty, but whom I have not seen mentioned in other records. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #196 | The consolidated morning reports let us follow the 100 drafted men and substitutes received on 14 October 1864. On 15 October, 100 recruits had not been assigned to a company. (Company H also had one recruit--presumably a volunteer.) The report on 16 October has the 100 men assigned to companies--20 each to companies B, F, G, and I, and 10 each to companies C and H. This raised the number of enlisted men present in each company to approximately 40 (range 34 to 46); the total number was more varied (range 48 to 72). The number of recruits slowly drops--99 on the 17th, 93 on the 26th, 78 on the 30th, with small changes throughout. Then on 4 November, the recruits in company I were absorbed into the company (18 more men were privates present for duty than on the 3rd). This left 61 recruits; the number changed slightly over the next two weeks. Finally, on the 18 November report, all the men were absorbed into their companies. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #195 | At least one member of the 91st had a family member who fought for the Confederates: Jacob Topper's brother was in the Confederate Cavalry, and was killed at Luray, Virginia, on 22 September 1864. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #194 | The extant consolidated morning reports begin on 7 February 1863. From then until the end of the war, the maximum number of men in the regiment was 930, on 29 April 1865, and the minimum was 357, on 2 January 1864. (The minimum is misleading, however, since 69 men who were not eligible for veterans' leave had been transferred to the 155th Pennsylvania Volunteers.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #193 | The first consolidated morning report after Lee surrendered at Appomattox shows a huge increase in the number of men in the regiment--from 524 men on 28 March 1865 to 887 men on 26 April 1865. And the 30 April 1865 report reports even more men--926 men were in the regiment then. So, at the end of the war, when the regiment would no longer be needed (though they did not yet know that), the regiment was finally back up to strength. (Even then, however, almost one-quarter of the men were absent, mostly absent sick.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #192 | According to the regimental records, James Gilliland (F) died, by drowning, on 20 November 1861. Unfortunately, according to the Philadelphia Public Ledger, he died on 17 February 1862. Since the regimental books were captured in November 1862, I am now worried that we should consider all the early dates in the regimental records as suspect. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #191 | The Pennsylvania Memorial at Gettysburg lists 22 officers and 276 enlisted men from the 91st as involved in the Battle of Gettysburg. Eleven names seem to have been erased, and at least one other probably should have been erased: Henry Linkerman (D) deserted on the march to Gettysburg, on 30 June 1863, and apparently did not return until 11 March 1864. (The list was based on the muster roll [that is, payroll] taken days before the battle, but corrections were made for years after the monument was finished.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #190 | Based on my current information, 81 men spent less than ten days in the regiment. Disproportionately many of them were not born in the US (7% of the foreign-born men, 2% of the US-born men) A slightly higher percentage of substitutes (5.4%) than volunteers (4.6%), but no draftees (0%), spent less than ten days in the regiment. (See the statistics page.) (29 Apr) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #189 | Based on my current information, 1842 (91%) of the 2019 men who served in the regiment never changed company. Company D had the most man transferred out (31), with companies K (30) and B (28) close behind, and Field and Staff transferred the fewest men out (2), with companies C (4), D (5), and E (7) not far behind. Company B received the fewest transfers (1), and company D received the most (37). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #188 | Based on my current information, about 84% of the men in the regiment had only one rank. 184 (9%) had two ranks; Robert Boyd held the most ranks (eight). The most common change in rank was a promotion from private to corporal (208), followed by corporal to sergeant (74), private to sergeant (46), and sergeant to first sergeant (36). Demotions from corporal to private are fifth on the list (34). (See the statistics.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #187 | Based on the limited information I now have, commissioned officers and enlisted men were equally likely to own property in 1860. More men who started as commissioned officers had "professional and large proprietor" occupations in 1860, and fewer were manual laborers, than men who started as enlisted men. (The difference is less pronounced among men who ever served as commissioned officers; for example, two men who were manual laborers in 1860 were promoted to commissioned officers.) 66% of men who began as commissioned officers were born in the US, while 57% of men who did not were born in the US (not a significant difference). 73% of men who ever served as commissioned officers were born in the US, while 56% of men who did not were born in the US (a significant difference). 19% of men who started as commissioned officers died while in the regiment, 12% of men who ended as commissioned officers died while in the regiment, and 9% of men who started as enlisted men. The shortest time anyone who began as a commissioned officer spent in the regiment was 100 days And all men who served as commissioned officers were volunteers. About three-quarters of each of these groups had someone apply for a pension, and about two-thirds had someone receive a pension. Of men who started as commissioned officers, 22% attended the 1884 Survivors' Association meeting; only 1% of men who started as enlisted men did. (See statistics about ranks.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #186 | I currently know of about 70 men from the 91st who spent some time in the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, in at least four branches: 34 men in the Southern Branch (in Elizabeth City County, Virginia), 32 men in the Central Branch (in Dayton, Ohio), 3 men in the Eastern Branch (in Togus, Maine), and 5 men in the Northwestern Branch (in Milwaukee, Wisconsin). (Some men apparently spent time in more than one branch.) The 1882 report (which seems to list all men who had ever been present) includes 38 men from the 91st. The most common disabilities reported were wounds or injuries to various body parts (15 men), rheumatism (5 men), loss of a limb (4), and hernia (3). The following were reported by one man each: asthma, diarrhea, disease of brain, disease of lungs, epilepsy, general debility, hemorrhoids, hydrocele, paralysis, prolapsus ani, and varicose veins. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #185 | Jesse Wharton (who was shot by a member of the 91st Pennsylvania in the Old Capitol Prison in April 1862) was courtmartialed while he served in the Army before the Civil War. He pled guilty to two charges of being drunk while on duty, violating Article 45 of the Articles of War, which requires that "[a]ny commissioned officer who shall be found drunk on his guard, party, or other duty, shall be cashiered". He pled innocent to the other two charges, but the court found him guilty on all charges. As far as I can judge, the evidence shows clearly that he was guilty of leaving the work party he was supervising after he had been ordered not to (the second charge). However, he may have genuinely been confused about the location of the camp he was supposed to stay in, which presumably means that whether he was guilty of "breach of arrest" (the third charge) depends on whether his confusion was reasonable. Since undisputed testimony claimed he was drunk shortly before he was arrested, the court may have been unwilling to regard his confusion as reasonable. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #184 | Further evidence that the agricultural workers who served in the 91st were more settled than other men. For the men I have so far found in the 1860 census, the agricultural workers were slightly disproportionately more likely to own real or personal property than the group as a whole. Interestingly, the broad category of production and related workers transport equipment operators and laborers were slightly disproportionately more likely to own personal property, but not real property. See the statistics page for the details. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #183 | I am adding a second way of classifying occupations, the HISCO classification. One interesting result is that disproportionally few people agricultural workers (farmers) deserted (18 instead of 36 out of 205). (See the statistics page.) I suspect the reason is that most agricultural workers who served in the 91st Pennsylvania were drafted, and tended to be older and more established. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #182 | Spouses or widows of soldiers in the 1900 census had on average approximately five children, approximately four of whom were still living. They had had zero to fourteen children--Anna Yake, John Yake's spouse, had had fourteen children, nine of whom were alive. All of the children were still alive for 32 of the 123 women for whom I have data; none were alive in five cases. (See the statistics page for the details.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #181 | If the information I have about the men's deaths is representative, about two-thirds of them were alive in 1890, while less than forty percent were alive in 1900. So, at some point in the 1890's, more than half the men who served in the regiment had died. (See the statistics page for details.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #180 | Based on the limited evidence I have now, occupation class in 1860 is not correlated with whether the men owned any real property, or with whether they owned any personal property, or with whether they owned any property. (As I expected, fewer service and semi-skilled workers, fewer manual laborers, , and more semi-professionals and smaller proprieters (including farmers) than expected owned property. But the difference is not statistically significant--at least not given the data I have now.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #179 | Benjamin Day (alias John Brown) was transferred to the 91st with the 118th Pennsylvania on 2 June 1865. Before enlisting in the 118th, he served in the 1st Massachusetts Heavy Artillery (the 14th Massachusetts Infantry). In fact, he formed and was Captain of company G in the 1st Mass. Heavy Artillery. He resigned because of "friction" and "charges and countercharges" in the regiment, which led to seven resignations in a short period, according to the regimental history. (The 91st's officers certainly experienced "friction" also--remember Alpheus Bowman and Morris Kayser, or John Hamill's accusation that Tayman has "malice" toward some officers.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #178 | Based on the limited census information I have about soldiers and their widows,
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #177 | Further preliminary information about the 1900 census: Of the 96 soldiers or widows I have so far found in the 1900 census, 77 were heads of the household, 11 were living with a family member (most with a child), 5 were boarders or lodgers, and 3 were inmates of a Veteran's Home. 27 were living on a farm, and 69 in a house. Of the 77 heads of household, 45 owned their home, and 32 rented it. Twelve of the owned houses were mortgaged, and 32 were not. 66 were married, 25 widowed, 4 single, and 1 divorced. The married men had been married from 5 to 57 years (average 33). Five of the six immigrant soldiers were naturalized citizens (the census has a blank citizenship column for David Baird). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #176 | At least two men who served in the 91st were elected to state legislatures after the war. Joseph Sinex (F&S) was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1883, and Benjamin Day (alias John Brown) (A) served in the Massachusetts House in 1890 and 1894. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #175 | At least two men who served in the 91st petitioned Congress (apparently successfully) to grant them pensions after the Pension Commissioner denied their applications: William Bowman (B) and James Aarons (F). Lawrence Humphries' widow also petitioned Congress for a pension. According to the regimental records, Humphries was killed accidentally at Washington, DC. In 1873, the Adjutant-General reported that he "is supposed to have been brutally murdered, or met his death by stumbling over blocks of marble and striking his head against cog-wheels at the Capitol extension". Although she was not legally entitled to a pension, the Commissioner of Pensions suggested that her case deserved "favorable consideration by Congress". Congress agreed. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #174 | The limited evidence I have so far shows (unsurpringly) that property ownership increased among men who served in the 91st from 1860 to 1870. In 1860, 14% of the men owned real property, and 39% owned personal property. In 1870, 25% of the men owned real property, and 54% owned personal property. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #173 | After the Battle of Hatcher's Run (27-28 October 1864), the number of men present sick increased from 32 (on 26 October) to 75 (30 October). They seem to have been transferred on the 31st, since the number present sick drops to 14 on 1 November, and the number of men absent sick increases from 163 to 224. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #172 | Three men who had served in the 91st were working for the War Department in 1878, in the Adjutant General's Office: George McNeil, Franklin B Miller, and Joseph S Miller. Perhaps coincidentally, all three were enlisted on the same day (20 August 1861). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #171 | Most of the census entries I've found for men (or widows) were for men living in Pennsylvania: 95% in 1860 79% in 1870 70% in 1880 83% in 1890 57% in 1900 57% in 1910 46% in 1920 Unsurprisingly, many men moved to adjacent states (particularly New Jersey, Maryland, and Delaware), and to states with National Homes (particularly Ohio and Virginia). Other states I have found men in include Arizona, California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. (The current total is 27 states, plus the District of Columbia.) The pension index cards I have add three locations: Georgia, Kansas, and Ireland. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #170 | I have occupations in the 1860 census and in regimental records for 41 men. In 22 (54%) cases, they were clearly the same; in 3 (7%) cases, they were apprentices in 1860 but full-fledged artisans at enlistment; and in 4 (10%) cases I think the occupations were the same (tobbaconist-cigarmaker, laborer-farm laborer, clerk-salesman, and miner-laborer). In 12 (29%) cases, the occupations were different | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #169 | Did men lie about their ages when they enlisted? I can estimate the birthdates based on the regimental records and on the 1860 census for 68 men. Fifty (74%) could be the same year; fourteen more (21%) were within five years. The other four all had enlistment ages greater than expected from their 1860 census age: Reuben Peel was 52 in 1860, but 40 when he enlisted in 1861 Thomas Aitken was 49 in 1860, but 42 when he enlisted in 1861 John Brown was 36 in 1860, but 32 when he enlisted in 1863 William Kier was 35 in 1860, if that is the right William Kier, but 32 when he enlisted in 1863 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #168 | I have so far found 61 men in the 1860 census. Twenty-one men reported owning personal property (ranging from $100 to $23000 [Isaac Knight], mean $1355). Six men reported owning real property (ranging from $100 to $25000, mean $5283). Interestingly, John Lentz reported owning real property worth $25,000--but in the 1870 census he reported no real property. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #167 | Volunteer status is significantly correlated with occupation class (chi-square=113.91, df=8, p<.0005), but explains very little (only about 4%) of the variance (Cramer's V=.21). In particular, more artisans were volunteers than expected, more manual laborers were substitutes, and more semi-professionals and smaller proprieters were draftees. (See volunteer status, by occupation class, in the regimental statistics page.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #166 | I have now finished checking for 1890 veterans' census entries for the 204 men who served in company A. I found 74 (36%). 60 (81%) were the soldier; 14 (19%) were his widow. 54 (73%) were living in Pennsylvania, 5 (7%) in New Jersey, 4 (5%) in Maryland, 3 (4%) in Virginia, 2 (3%) each in Massachusetts and Missouri, and 1 (1%) each in Ohio, New York, Washington, and Washington DC. I have evidence that 84 of the 204 men were alive in 1890, and 45 had died by 1890--which suggests that about 65% of the men were alive in 1890. If so, I have found less than half of the men who were alive (65% of 204 = 133). Possible reasons include these: most 1890 veterans' census records for states alphabetically prior to Kentucky were lost; the census may have missed the men; the indexer may have misread the entry; I may have (probably!) missed some or been unable to identify them as members of the 91st, if the census doesn't record the unit they served in. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #165 | The prosecution in the Brewster court-martial did not call the person who actually released the prisoners, did not present evidence that the officer of the day and the colonel did not order them released, did not call the Sergeants of the Guard, and never asked how Major Todd heard that Brewster was drunk. Only one witness (Whinna) testified that Brewster ordered prisoners released--and Shipley testified that he wrote Brewster's name in the guard book as having released them based on a Sergeant's report, to shift the responsibility off his shoulders and onto Brewster's. The defence also had serious problems; their witnesses helped the prosecution more than Brewster. In particular, Surgeon Knight's testimony was very damaging to their claim that Brewster's appearing intoxicated was actually due to illness and medicine, since Knight discounted that possibility. They clearly had not prepared adequately, perhaps because they did not have time--the only medical evidence they presented was from Knight, and one officer (Sellers) they called (apparently) to prove that Brewster had been attentive to his duty in the past, testified that he did not remember serving as Officer of the Day with Brewster as Officer of the Guard under him! Another Officer of the Day (Gilbert) even testified that Brewster had not always been attentive to his duty, and the defence counsel had to elicit the details from him. And the final testimony in the case came when the Judge Advocate was cross-examining Gilbert. He asked, "What is the prisoner's reputation for Sobriety", and Gilbert answered "Bad"! As far as I can judge, the prosecution presented reasonable evidence that Hamill appeared drunk in the middle to late afternoon, and the defence did not rebut it. While I can't judge from the record whether the appearance was due to alcohol or to medicine, I can see myself voting to convict him on that charge. (I'm assuming here that the standard of proof is "preponderance of the evidence", and not "beyond a reasonable doubt".) I would have a harder time justifying convicting him on the charge of releasing prisoners without proper authorization. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #164 | Enoch Carroll Brewster's trial for being drunk on duty was interestingly different from John Hamill's trial on the same charge. First, men from the 91st did not help Brewster's case at all, and sometimes seemed to go out of their way to hurt him (unlike Hamill). For example, when the Adjutant, Lieutenant Tayman, was asked whether he had seen Brewster sick, instead of saying "Yes", he replied (minimizing the illness) "Not since he was an officer except sometimes of lumbago." And when Lieutenant Shipley was asked if he was drunk, he did not merely reply "Yes", but said once "All I can say is that if I had seen a man in his condition if I had been on patrol I should have arrested him mighty sure. His actions were those of a drunken man and his breath smelt [sic] of liquor" and a second time "I think he was. If I had a private in my guard as drunk as he was I should put him in the Guard House". And Major Todd, when asked if he had seen Brewster intoxicated, answered "I have several times seen him under the influence of liquor but once only what I should call drunk". Major Todd (and no one else) acknowledged the possibility that Brewster's "looking stupefied" could have been caused by drugs (as the defence claimed)--but immediately added that it was "most likely [caused] by intoxicating liquors".(More next week.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #163 | John Hamill (D) was cashiered because he was drunk while on duty, in charge of a picket detail. Three things struck me about his court martial record. First, he claims that he petitioned Lincoln to pardon him and restore him to service, and that Lincoln has "favorably indorsed" the request, but his assassination intervened before it was granted. We've already seen Alpheus Bowman successfully restored after having been cashiered; I wonder how frequently that happened. Second, Hamill claims that while Benjamin Tayman was serving as the Brigade's acting assistant adjutant general, he blocked an order releasing Hamill from arrest before he was court-martialed. Third, the prosecution presented two witnesses from the 91st to Hamill's drunkenness--one had recently transferred from the 62nd Pennsylvania, and the other was from a different company; I wonder whether they couldn't find anyone in his company to testify against him. Also, I haven't yet transcribed the consolidated morning report that reports his arrest, but it also reports four other arrests: sergeant [Samuel] Conrad (co.E, released 26 Oct), private [James] McLoon (co.A, apparently released 26/30 Oct), and two privates from company D whose names I haven't (yet) been able to read (apparently released 29 November). Perhaps their arrests are related to Hamill's. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #162 | In 71% of the cases I now have evidence about, someone (either the soldier or a dependent of his) applied for a pension. Occupation class at time of enlistment, and whether they became veterans are not significantly correlated with whether anyone applied for a pension. Whether the soldiers were volunteers, draftees, or substitutes was significantly correlated (p<.0005, Cramer's V = .12), but only explains about 1% of the difference. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #161 | (Note: I know very little about statistics; if you know that I'm using the wrong test or making other mistakes, please tell me!) Based on the evidence I have, volunteer status (p<.0005, Cramer's V=0.16), whether born in the US (p<.0005, Cramer's V 0.17), occupation class (p<.0005, Cramer's V 0.15), and veteran's status for volunteers (p<.0005, Cramer's V 0.15) are all significantly correlated with whether the soldier ever deserted--but each explains only about 2 or 3 percent of the difference between deserting and not deserting. (See the tables in the regimental statistics for details.) A higher percentage of volunteers deserted than substitutes or (especially!) draftees, a lower percentage of veterans deserted than non-veterans, and a higher percentage of foreign-born men deserted than men born in the US, and a lower percentage of semi-professionals and smaller proprietors deserted, and a higher percentage of manual laborers deserted. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #160 | Based on the limited information I have about pensions,
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #159 | At least nine members of the 91st Pennsylvania lived in Nebraska after the war: Charles Bournonville, Henry Ellwanger, Henry Francis, Adam Ickes, Edward Matchett, William Mock, Aaron Musselman, Alexander McDonald, Reuben Peel. (Perhaps I W Reice is another.) Peel was living in Nebraska in 1870, not long after it became a state in 1867. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #158 | The 91st Pennsylvania ended June with 46 men reported absent without leave, but by the end of July, they had none. 41 of them were dropped as deserters, from 3 July through 29 July. 5 men apparently returned (2 in company A, and 2 in company E, by 3 July, and another 1 in company I on 20 July). On 9 July, company F reduced their number of men absent without leave from 2 to 0, but they added 2 men absent with leave. I suspect they simply changed their status. (On 3 September [which I have not yet transcribed] William McClung is reported gained from desertion, and they report only one man absent with leave; starting 30 September [not yet transcribed] they report 0 men absent without leave, with no explanation.) Unfortunately, not all of the men dropped as deserters are named. But at least 20 of them were men who enlisted in 1864, and presumably never reported, while I know of only two who enlisted earlier: Samuel Wilson (B) (who enlisted in 1861, but seems not to have reenlisted as a veteran), and John Mootheart (B) (who did reenlist as a veteran). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #157 | Apparently, Edgar Gregory continued to be involved with freedmen after he stopped being Assistant Commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau for Maryland in 1868. In 1870, he presented a report of the "Committee on Freedmen" to the Presbyterian General Assembly. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #156 | When the 62nd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry was mustered out of service, men who weren't eligible for discharge were transferred to the 91st. 48 men were assigned to companies in the 91st by special order 65 of 21 July 1864. Now, 81 men transferred from the 62nd Pennsylvania were to be discharged on or before 20 August, according to a letter from Major Lentz), and on 20 July 1864 all men whose term expired before 25 August 1864 were ordered to report to Washington DC. However, I have just transcribed the consolidated morning report for 3 July 1864, which claims that 5 officers and 122 enlisted men were transferred to the 91st. Unfortunately, 48 (men assigned to the 91st) + 81 (men sent to Washington) is 129, not 125 <sigh>. Lieutenant Robert Martin was subsequently ordered to join the company at Washington, but I don't know how to resolve the remaining discrepancy. Perhaps the subsequent morning reports will help. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #155 | Contrast these two opinions, both written in Texas in 1866: "I sometimes think that long after the oppressed race shall rise into rights, duties and capacities so haughtily denied the dominant class will not have overcome their contempt for the Negro. Its roots will even then exist and trouble the land." "It will not be long before white men, prompted by selfish interest, will come boldly forth here as the champions of the colored man and battle for their civil rights at last, and those who do will be the most successful at planting, herding, or any other branch of business in which they employ freedmen." Edgar Gregory wrote the first, in a letter to a grand jury foreman asking him to call out the troops; a New York Times reporter wrote the second, while accompanying Generals Steedman and Fullerton on an investigation of the Freedmen's Bureau. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #154 | Of the men who had a chance to reenlist as veterans (or to declare their willingness), 296 of 336 (88%) either reenlisted or said they were willing to reenlist when they were eligible. (Neither birth country nor pre-war occupation class seems to have made a difference to their willingness.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #153 | A dog was so attached to Sergeant William H Brown (company C) that after he died in the battle of Fredericksburg, the dog stayed by him. When someone lifted Brown's coat off his face, to see whether he was still alive, the dog kissed his lips. The dog refused to leave Brown's body, and followed when the body was being carried toward a grove for burial. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #152 | I have at least tentative death dates for 228 of the 1831 men who did not die while serving in the regiment. Here are the deaths by decade: 1860's: 14 (6%) 1870's: 11 (5%) 1880's: 24 (11%) 1890's: 35 (15%) 1900's: 56 (25%) 1910's: 61 (27%) 1920's: 24 (11%) 1930's: 3 (1%) Note two problems. First, some of the sources are unreliable; the pension index cards, for example, may record the date they were notified of the death, rather than the actual date of death. Second, this is not a random sample. The pension index cards, for example, include more deaths that occurred later on, because more men had pensions later on. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #151 | Based on the company A and company B pension index cards, draftees were far more likely than volunteers, and substitutes were less likely than volunteers, to have a pension application filed under their name: 89% of draftees (62 of 70) 53% of volunteers (173 of 325) 34% of substitutes (13 of 38) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #150 | Pre-war occupation affected whether men volunteered. Manual laborers were disproportionately substitutes; artisans and semi-skilled workers were disproportionately volunteers. (Semi-professionals and small proprietors were disproportionately drafted, probably because farmers were unlikely to voluntarily leave their farms.)
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #149 | Whether the soldier died while in the 91st Pennsylvania does not seem to affect whether anyone applied for, or succeeded in getting, a pension. Twenty (20) of the 204 men who served in company A died while they were in the regiment. 65% of them had people apply for pensions, and 64% of the men who did not die had people apply for pensions. 60% of the applications relating to men who died in the regiment had someone succeed, while 57% of the application relating to men who did not die succeed. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #148 | In company A, a higher percentage of men whose pre-war occupation was small proprietor and semi-professional (72%) or artisan (68%) has someone apply for pensions than those whose pre-war occupation was semi-skilled laborer (50%) or manual laborer (52%). In most cases, someone succeeded (ranging from 86% for artisans to 100% for semi-skilled laborers). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #147 | I have the "pension index by regiment" cards for company A. While they are probably not complete, they give us at least a rough idea of who applied for pensions. 130 pension applications were filed for the 204 men who served in company A (64%). 116 of them were successful (89%). 100 soldiers (49%) applied for a pension, 87 (87%) of them successfully. 74 (36%) of their widows applied, 57 (77%) successfully. (Only 2 contesting widows applied for pensions; neither were successful.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #146 | According to the best numbers I have, 9% (187 of 2018) of the men who served in the 91st Pennsylvania died while in the regiment. At least 60% of those men died of battle wounds, and 26% of illness (with typhoid fever the leading cause of death). 16% of the men who reenlisted as veteran volunteers died (at least partly, no doubt, because of the longer time they served). (Even these numbers are uncertain--see 'Number of deaths' for some problems.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #145 | Of the 1309 people whose pre-war occupation class I know, 218 (17%) deserted at some point. But the desertions were not evenly split among the classes: 24% of the manual laborers deserted, but only 15% of the artisans, and only 11% of the semi-professionals and smaller proprieters deserted. The correct explanation for this disparity isn't obvious. Perhaps wealthier people who didn't want to serve were more able to avoid serving (because they could more easily afford substitutes). (Of the volunteers, only 14% were manual laborers; 19% of the draftees, and an amazing 43% of the substitutes, were manual laborers.) Or perhaps manual laborers would find it easier to avoid detection, since they weren't as tied to equipment or unusual occupations. (I need to study statistics to be able to tease out which factors are most important--but I don't expect to do that soon!) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #144 | The mean age at first enlistment was 27.4 years (median 25), but more men were 18 than any other age. (This may be misleading; men who were less than 18 may have pretended to be 18 so that they were old enough to enlist.) On average, substitutes were younger, and drafted men were older, than volunteers--the mean age of substitutes was 24.9 years old (median 23), while the mean age of volunteers was 27.5 (median 25), and of draftees 29.5 years (median 29). (See the statistics.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #143 | I have finished adding men to the database of men in the regiment (but have not yet finished proofreading). According to my best current numbers, 2018 men served in the 91st Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, that number is not definite--for example, see fact 129 for four pairs of possibly duplicated men. Also, whether some men should be included is unclear--I have excluded the eight men who were mistakenly entered on the 91st's muster roll instead of the 90th Pennsylvania's, and also Thomas Kelly, who was transferred as a first lieutenant from the 118th Pennsylvania, but was mustered out effective the date of the 118th's muster out since the 91st had no vacancies for a first lieutenant. However, I have included Jacob Appel, who was officially transferred with the men from the 62nd Pennsylvania--but had already died in Andersonville Prison, about two months before the transfer. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #142 | I'm nearing the end of the company K descriptive book, which will let me produce statistics covering the entire regiment. Here's an illustration why you shouldn't trust the statistics too far--the third company K descriptive book (of four!) lists an "Albert Learney". Neither Bates' History of Pennsylvania volunteers nor the Pennsylvania Archives Civil War Veterans' Card File lists an Albert Learney. As far as I can tell, "Albert Learney" is really Leroy Abbott! My best guess is that the person who wrote the entry in the descriptive book simply misread it <sigh>. I wish I could think I've caught all the mistakes in the records--but I'm confident I haven't (and also that I've introduced some myself). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #141 | A company K register of deserters gives probable locations for five of the ten deserters it lists, none of whom were returned to the regiment. They are scattered around the Northeastern United States: Boston Massachusetts, New York, New York New York, Williamsport Pennsylvania, and St John. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #140 | During the battle of Cold Harbor, when the Army of the Potomac was badly mauled, the 91st was in the Army's rear and played no role in the attack. They were far enough removed from the battle that Thomas Walter and others even swam in a mill dam! (He mentions this shortly after describing veterans' uncanny ability to predict what was going to happen based on miniscule clues recruits had no idea how to interpret.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #139 | Alpheus Bowman, who was thrown out of the army three times while in the 91st Pennsylvania, and joined the regular army after the war, was promoted to Brigadier General and retired as part of at attempt to remove older officers. While retired, he and his wife attended at least two receptions at the White House. Unfortunately, I don't know what he thought about his early problems in the army. Were they an embarassment that he tried to forget, or an experience he valued? Did his courtmartial affect his decisions on courtmartials? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #138 | Adam Ickes (I) moved to Nebraska in the 1880's, and became County Treasurer of Cheyenne County. A local bank closed while he had county funds in it, and he "went broke trying to make good the county losses, turning over all his private funds and property in an effort to save his bondsmen". He moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, and worked as an insurance agent, dying in 1917. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #137 | On 30 November 1863, the 91st (along with the rest of the Fifth Corps) was spared what would probably have been yet another futile and bloody attack on an entrenched Confederate position. They were supposed to attack (with the Sixth Corps) at 9 am. The Confederates had a strong line of breastworks, with trees slashed in front of it, and the soldiers did not believe they had a chance of taking it. In his report, Sykes (the corps commander) agrees that the probability of success was very low. The weather was exceptionally cold; some men in the Pennsylvania Reserves were reported to have frozen to death from exposure to the cold. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #136 | I have read that the Army sometimes sent deserters to different regiments, but found that ineffective. A note in the Company H descriptive roll suggests that William Watson (H) may have been transferred from the 91st to a different regiment because he had deserted. At least five men transferred to the 91st from other regiments, and at least two (Alvin Clark and Newton Wallace) eventually transferred back to "their own" regiments. Perhaps some of them were transferred as deserters. Finally, a letter refers to someone who was assigned to the 91st "as a deserter from the draft" (but had actually deserted from a Cavalry Regiment). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #135 | Thomas Walter reports that during the Battle of the Wilderness his guards were so exhausted that they couldn't remain awake, and by 1.30 AM he was no better. An officer woke him about 2.30, and had the guards removed. Fortunately for them, the officer did not charge them with sleeping while on guard duty--article 46 of the Articles of War made sleeping on guard a capital offense. When William Reiff and another man had had similar problems staying awake during the Battle of Gettysburg, an understanding Officer of the Guard relieved them long enough to get several hours sleep, after which they were able to stay awake until morning. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #134 | Just before the Second Battle of Bull Run, the 91st Pennsylvania was transferred from the Military District of Washington to the Army of the Potomac's Fifth Corps (on 21 August 1862). Their first duty was to escort a wagon train, with eighty-seven wagons, to Fairfax Court House. Their inexperience showed. The advance guard (company A) marched so far ahead that they lost contact with the rest of the regiment. Thomas Walter reports that they "spent an hour in loitering about and getting breakfast" at a bridge, and could easily have been captured by a squadron of cavalry from the nearby Confederate army. And William Reiff played a practical joke on someone during the same escort duty. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #133 | George Black was less than twelve years old when he enlisted in company H, along with his father, first lieutenant George Black. He insisted on staying as close as possible to his father, even during battles. And according to William Reiff, Black "prevented a stampede of our forces by placing his horse midway of the road and firing shot after shot into the head of the retreating column". (See Reiff's 'A boy hero: a young drummer made of the right kind of stuff'.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #132 | A recruiting poster (which an auction catalog on the web refers to) provides some evidence about the regiment Edward Wallace was recruiting, which was eventually merged with Edgar Gregory's to form the 91st. This poster invites men to the Morse Literary Institute, at Frankford Road and York Street (in Northeast Philadelphia), to join a regiment of "Sharp Shooters". Charles Brown was captain of company K; he eventually became captain of company H of the 91st. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #131 | The person who kept Company H's records did not like John Wood. Although he was discharged for disability, the company H register of men discharged claims that the discharge was "supposed to be on account of his cowardly reputation". And the company H descriptive roll claims that he "was a government loafer and ought to have been court martialed and shot for cowardice long ago". Of course, I do not know whether those claims were true. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #130 | Sometimes people's occupations changed significantly after the war. For example, Jacob Bender (G) was a farmer when he was enlisted, and became a dentist after the war. And George Kulp (E), who was a whipmaker when he was enlisted, became a preacher after the war. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #129 | At least five people seem to have reenlisted in the 91st Pennsylvania after being discharged. Henry Abbott (G), John A Beaver (F, D, A), James A Clark (E), and Henry Clothier (B) reenlisted after having been discharged on surgeon's certificate. Alpheus Bowman (B) reenlisted after being discharged by sentence of general court martial. Perhaps William Spangler also enlisted twice: a William Spangler served in company G from 9 September 1861 until he was discharged on surgeon's certificate on 17 April 1863, and a William Spangler was appointed Captain of company G "from Civil Life", and served from 17 March 1865 until the regiment mustered out on 10 July 1865. Their being the same person might help explain why a commissioned officer was appointed "from Civil Life" instead of from within the regiment, as usually happened that late in the war. Perhaps Stephen Godfrey (A, 1865) and Stephen Godfrey (A, 1861-1864) are the same person [note: yes, they are], as Winchester Myers (H, 1861-4), Winchester Myers (H, 1861), and Peter Weaver (G) and Peter Weaver (K) may be. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #128 | John Ackerman (company G) was discharged on 10 December 1861, one day after he enlisted. The company descriptive book explains that he was discharged "on account of being intoxicated when he enlisted in the regiment"! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #127 | Reduction to the ranks (that is, demotion to private) was usually a punishment, for example, for disobeying orders, or being absent without leave. Francis Higgins (G), however, was reduced to ranks "of [his] own accord". Unfortunately, we don't know why he wanted to be a private. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #126 | In July 1863, while the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia was moving toward Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Militia was called out. The untrained troops could not have stopped the Confederates, of course. But at least one former member of the 91st served with them, Thomas McGronan, who served in the 59th Pennsylvania Militia from 3 July 1863 until 18 [?] August 1863. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #125 | Besides founding the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the US, Peter Keyser was a physician, graduating from Jena University. He wrote several books about ophthalmology, and even wrote one about sewage systems in Europe! Unfortunately, Philadelphia's corrupt government was better at enriching contractors and padding payrolls than at solving water problems. Philadelphia had a higher death rate from typhoid fever than any other major city, and everyone bought spring water if they could. (About Philadelphia's water problems around the turn of the century, see Nathanial Burt and Wallace E Davies, "The iron age: 1876-1905", in Philadelphia: a 300-year history ed. Russell F Weigley (New York: WW Norton, 1982), pages 471-523 at page 496.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #124 | At least 23 men who had served in the 91st Pennsylvania were living in the National Home, Southern Branch (in Elizabeth City County, Virginia), in 1890. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #123 | Of the 637 men whose occupations I have been able to classify, 19 (3%) were higher-level professionals and proprietors, 172 (27%) were lower-level professionals and proprietors, 215 (34%) were artisans, 53 (8%) were service, semi-skilled, and operative workers, 175 (28%) were manual workers, and 3 (<.5%) were not in the work force. See occupation classes for more details (including problems!). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #122 | Peter Keyser, captain of company D, was one of the founders of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #121 | In 1890, the 91st's first chaplain, Joseph Welsh, reported that he had experienced a "[g]eneral breaking up of [his] system", from which he had never recovered. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #120 | I have added revised statistics, including about half the regiment (men who served in company A through E or Field & Staff). Here are a few highlights. The mean reported age at enlistment was 27.5 years (but almost one-tenth of the men reported that they were 18). About 40% (324) of the men whose birthplace we know were born in Philadelphia, and 70% (545) were born in the United States. 123 of them were laborers (18% of those for whom I have an occupation), and 58 were farmers (9%). The mean height was 67 inches. The most frequest description was blue eyes, light hair, and light complexion, but the most frequent hair color and complexion were dark. The most common first names were 'John' (179 men, 17%) and 'William' (144, 14%). Of those 1065 men, I know of 24 men who were court martialed (2%), 162 who deserted (15%), 121 who died while they were in the regiment (11%), 216 who were wounded (20%), and 191 who reenlisted as veteran volunteers (18%). The mean time they were officially in the regiment was 582 days (median 478 days); the longest was 1552 days. A little more than three-quarters were volunteers; the others were roughly evenly split between substitutes and draftees. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #119 | After the main campaigns of 1864, the regiment twice was forced to move after setting up winter quarters. After the second time, Thomas Walter found them in mid-December "in a patch of stumps, with only their shelter tents for houses". This time they were permitted to stay until 6 February 1865. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #118 | Just before the beginning of the 1864 campaign, on 3 May 1864, the regiment had 13 commissioned officers and 389 enlisted men present for duty, with a total of 54 men absent sick, and 23 commissioned officers and 580 enlisted men in the regiment. Less than two months later, on 29 June 1864, after the Battles of the Wilderness, Laurel Hill, Spottsylvania Court House, North Anna River, Pamunkey River, Totopotomy, Cold Harbor, and the initial battles at Petersburg, the regiment had 12 commissioned officers and 202 enlisted men present for duty, with 208 men absent sick, and a total of 23 commissioned officers and 517 enlisted men in the regiment. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #117 | Liberal interpretations of orders were not always successful. During the Battle of Gettysburg, Lieutenant-Colonel Sinex gave Alpheus Bowman and Morris Kayser permission to go to the regiment's rear because of medical problems. Kayser eventually went to Washington DC, and Bowman to Philadelphia, for medical treatment. Kayser was court-martialed for that and other offences, and found guilty but given only a slap in the wrist, while Bowman was eventually honorably discharged for "disability and absence without leave". | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #116 | Soldiers sometimes successfully interpreted orders very liberally. For example, Thomas Walter (A) was injured in the Battle of Gettysburg. He went to the Corps Hospital, and was eventually ordered to go to a regular hospital. But because his mother was working in a government hospital in Baltimore, he left the train and spent two weeks there. Surprisingly, he was then able to get an order from the provost-marshal of Baltimore to go to a hospital in Philadelphia. But since he "had not much of an inclination of becoming a hospital patient", he went to Cape May after visiting Philadelphia! In the six weeks he was away from the regiment, no surgeon ever saw his foot. (See his 'Personal recollections and experiences of an obscure soldier') | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #115 | In addition to the Pioneer Corps, I have seen one reference to a "Pontoon Corps", responsible for laying pontoon bridges. According to an anonymous account, two of them were injured while laying a bridge across the Chickahominy, on 13 June 1864. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #114 | Montgomery Burr (D), William McGlency (D), and Wilfred Bywater (K) were on a ten-day furlough on 27 April 1864. Perhaps they received it because they had reenlisted as veteran volunteers on 26 March 1864, after the regiment had returned from the furlough they received for reenlisting. However, I have not (yet!) found furloughs for Joseph Everhart (C), Alexander Baird (E), or John Parks (E), who reenlisted on the same day. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #113 | The regiment had to provide pioneers both for their own use and for the Brigade Pioneer Corps. On 15 April 1864, the regimental pioneer corps included 7 men, though that may have involved reducing the number then assigned. In a circular dated 15 August 1863, Sinex summarized the duties of the Regimental Pioneer Corps, focusing on their duties in camp. Those who weren't detailed (presumably in the Brigade Pioneer Corps) were used for digging latrines, loading wagons, and other purposes relating to "the general good of the camp". One-half of them had axes, one-third shovels or spades, and one-sixth picks. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #112 | Keeping men present with the regiment could be difficult. On 7 March 1864, six months after asking for the return of 78 men sick or on detached service, Sinex asked for the return of another 43 men on detached service. Eleven returned on 16 or 17 April. But two of those men (George Stewart (C) and John Griffith (E)) were detailed as mounted messengers at Corps Headquarters just two days later! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #111 | While the regiment was quartered in Alexandria, Virginia, Thomas Walter and other members of company A visited several nearby churches after roll-call--not to attend services, but to sleep! A Methodist Church was cooler and had fewer mosquitoes than their quarters. And the gallery around the cupola of a Presbyterian church was even better: "If there was any breeze we were sure to get it, and we were too high for the blood-sucking insects. We felt, on those occasions, that though we were quite young, we were occupying very high positions in the military service of our country, and that our religious elevation was far above the average height of other soldiers"! (Grand Army Scout and Soldiers' Mail, volume 3, number 35, page 2) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #110 | Non-battle injuries could also be debilitating. For example, Samuel Mock's back was hurt on 1 November 1864, when he was knocked down while helping carry a log to build quarters. A month later, he was barely able to walk, and unable to carry anything but a blanket. (He was apparently not excused from duty, however. And he was charged $23.25 for his lost gun and accoutrements.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #109 | After the Battle of Antietam, William Reiff (H) had to rush to return to the regiment when he heard taps. He ran through a cornfield, but fell into a pile of amputated limbs ('His worst scare'). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #108 | Thomas Walter went foraging for meat only once, when they killed and ate a hog, "after firing enough bullets at it to bring down a grizzly bear". He mentions foraging for fruit more frequently. They ate cherries at Mount Vernon. They were not allowed to forage for fruit on the way to Antietam. After crossing the North Anna, in May 1864, some other people foraged for a chicken, which they were sharing with Walter, but were interrupted by an attack. They did receive a peach once, "and though the fruit was not extra good, it was an extraordinary article of army supply". The company did some foraging just before reaching Appomattox Court House, but Walter doesn't say what they found. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #107 | On 2 June 1864, the regiment wasn't notified when many soldiers were withdrawn from the front line; the 91st escaped, but many men in their brigade were captured. Perhaps this is why so many men from the 118th Pennsylvania were taken captive: "at Bethesda Church, four wounded, and eighty-six taken prisoner while on the skirmish line, Captain Kelly and Lieutenant Crossley being of the number" (Bates v.3 p.1314). At least 9 of them were transferred to the 91st Pennsylvania when the 118th was mustered out. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #106 | During June 1863, as they were following the Confederate Army north (eventually to fight at Gettysburg), the army marched seventeen hours a day, and had little food: 'The little fresh meat that we got seemed scarcely fit to eat, and this, with coffee and crackers, was our diet' (Thomas Walter, 'Personal recollections'). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #105 | Thomas Walter remembered Christmas 1864 as not particularly festive. They had little wood and water, but did have some coffee, bread, and mackerel for breakfast. Dinner, on the other hand, consisted of "that celebrated army staple, bean soup". He heard then that the regiment had received some extra food for Thanksgiving Day (when he was in the National General Hospital in Baltimore), including several mince pies, which one person described as "principally made up of the sweepings of a cobbler shop". | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #104 | On 3 May 1863, during the battle of Chancellorsville, the regiment had to retreat quickly because they were outflanked. Thomas Walter (A) claimed he noticed the "strong column" of Confederates on their right, and told the men to leave. When Lieutenant Colonel Sinex "begged [the men] not to run", Walter had to run to show him the situation! Sinex's horse was killed as he tried to escape. (The brigade and division commanders' reports present the withdrawal as far more orderly, due to the brigade's running out of ammunition.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #103 | Apparently, not all the original members of the regiment joined in Philadelphia: John Blazo (D) enlisted on 19 October 1861 at Portsmouth, Virginia, John Bergner (D) enlisted on 19 August 1861 at Baltimore, Maryland, and Elisha Skipper (D) enlisted on 14 May 1861 (!) at Baltimore, Maryland. However, this information comes from the Civil War Veterans' Card File, available at the Pennsylvania State Archives, which is an excellent source, but only a secondary source (compiled from the original information), and so may well be wrong. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #102 | Colonel Gregory issued an order on 16 February 1864, transferring twelve men from company A to various companies. This had puzzled me, because all the companies were short men, and he could have adjusted company sizes by assignment new recruits appropriately. The company D register of men transferred may suggest the explanation, by noting that two men were transferred because of "Reenlisting at a detachment [?] in Co A Vols [?]". Apparently, then, some men who were absent on detached service when the regiment reenlisted on 26 December 1863 were mistakenly mustered in company A when they were mustered in on 1 January 64! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #101 | James Diehl (D) was commissioned captain on 16 December 1863, but refused the commission. His refusal was accepted, unlike that of Thomas Walter (A), whom Edgar Gregory ordered to accept a commission as first lieutenant (see fact #54 and Walter, 'Personal recollections', court-martial record). Perhaps it's relevant that Diehl spent most of his time in the army as an aide to Brigadier General Erastus Tyler. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #100 | Thomas Walter (A) was one of the color (that is, flag) bearers. He reports that he did not like it, not "because they increased my chances of being shot, but because they kept so close to the ranks. The color-sergeants and color-guard had to be first in line when the regiments was found, and were last to get away when the command was dismissed. We had no chance to do any foraging on the march, neither could we feel as free when off duty in camp" ('Personal recollections'). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #99 | John Tinney (C), who was a telegraph operator before the war, was discharged so that he could join the US Military Telegraph Bureau, which was a civilian bureau working under the Quartermaster's Corps (another case of the army bureaucracy operating rationally!). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #98 | Standard equipment for Union infantry weighed about forty to fifty pounds. It included a haversack (for food), a cartridge box (with forty rounds), a bayonet and scabbard, a cap box, a rubber blanket, a woolen blanket, a canteen, and a knapsack (which included a "housewife" [mending kit], mess equipment, underclothing, and personal items). They also had to carry half a shelter tent. [Bell Irvin Wiley, The life of Billy Yank, pages 56, 64.] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #97 | Thomas Walter talked people in company A out of joining to send home the bodies of anyone who died in the service--probably in conjunction with Gustavus Bernstein's death in April 1862. Company C may have decided to do that--for example, John Harkinson's body was sent to his parents when he died on 11 May 1862, and the company C death register records other instances in which a soldier's body was sent home for burial. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #96 | Two months after he enlisted in March 1864, Andrew J Hill was admitted to hospital. He must have requested a discharge because of disability, since Lieutenant Colonel Lentz wrote a letter claiming that "a recruit passing through the campaign of the last 90 days without any serious results can stand the fatigue of any duty in which [sic] he may be called upon to perform as musician". Despite Lentz's letter, he was discharged in August 1864, by special order, apparently because he furnished a substitute--five months after enlisting! (See the register of men discharged and the [second] descriptive roll.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #95 | At least 3 men seem to have reenlisted after having been discharged on surgeon's certificate of disability: Henry Clothier, discharged on 2 September 1863, reenlisted on 21 January 1864; James A Clark, discharged on 21 August 1863, reenlisted on 4 February 1864; and John A Beaver, discharged on 3 February 1863, reenlisted as a veteran on 27 January 1864. (George Marker also did this, while he was in the 118th Pennsylvania Infantry.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #94 | Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph Sinex was a representative in the Pennsylvania legislature for one term, in 1883. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #93 | George S Oldmixon was part of the International Polar Expedition to Point Barrow, Alaska, from October 1881 to October 1883. He may be the George Oldmixon who was assistant surgeon of the 91st Pennsylvania from May 1864 to March 1865. He didn't have much medical work to do at Point Barrow; according to Patrick Ray's report, no one was ever on the sick report! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #92 | Robert Boyd was promoted five times--but also was demoted twice! He lasted as corporal almost eight months (23 November 1861-16 July 1862), then first sergeant (after having been promoted to sergeant) almost five months (1 January 1863 to 31 May 1863), and spent the last six months of service as commissary sergeant (after again having been promoted to sergeant). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #91 | In Company A, the average age at enlistment was 24.9 years. The median was 22 years, and more men (28) were 19 than any other age. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #90 | At least one man who served in the 91st, James Henesey, had served in the Confederate Army! (He served only briefly in the 91st; he was transferred from the 118th Pennsylvania when the 118th PA mustered out, on 1 June 1865.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #89 | Of the twelve men transferred from company G to company A (probably all in December 1861), eight had left the regiment by the end of 1862: five by surgeon's certificate of disability (Joshua Johnston, Joseph Graham, William Cook, John Cook, William Weaver), one by desertion (John Solomon), one by dying of exposure in Alexandria (Thomas Aitken), and one because he was underage (Benjamin Andrews). Perhaps the company G commander deliberately transferred men who were weak or sick. (The other men were William Beaver, James Simpson, Joseph Andrews, and Robert Simpson.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #88 | I have the muster-in date, and the date of leaving the regiment, for 197 men in company E. The longest time anyone spent in the regiment was 1531 days; the shortest was 28 days. The mean was 613 days, and the median was 513 days. The mode was surprisingly high: 10 men were in the regiment for 1421 days. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #87 | More than one-half of the men in company E were mustered into service on either Tuesday or Wednesday: Tuesday 54, Wednesday 54, Friday 29, Monday 27, Thursday 20, Saturday 13, Sunday 2, and unknown 1. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #86 | The six most common first names in company E, which account for more than half the men in the company, were John (34 men), William (22 men), James (19 men), Joseph (13 men), George (12 men), and Thomas (12 men). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #85 | I've noted bureaucratic problems in the past (see #34 and #7). So it's only fair to note that the army sometimes did things that at least seem to make sense! Philip Elberti (A) was promoted to regimental hospital attendant, and apparently eventually joined the regular army as a hospital attendant, which fits very nicely with his pre-war career of pharmacist. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #84 | Of the fifteen initial non-commissioned officers in company A, six (40%) were reduced to the ranks. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #83 | Pension law developed broadly in three stages (with many revisions!). First, soldiers who were disabled, and dependents of soldiers who died, as a result of service-related wounds or illnesses were eligible for pensions beginning in 1861 (act of 22 July 1861, section 6; act of 14 July 1862). Second, soldiers who were disabled for any reason except "their own vicious habits", and dependents of deceased soldiers, were eligible for pensions beginning in 1890 (act of 27 June 1890). Finally, all soldiers who had reached a certain age were eligible for pensions beginning in 1904 (executive order for old age pension (1904), acts of 6 February 1907 and of 11 May 1912). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #82 | On 9 July 1863, just days after the Battle of Gettysburg, the new Brigade Commander, General Garrard, ordered men who were missing dropped from the rolls. His order was premature: of the eleven men dropped in company A, two were transferred to the Veterans' Reserve Corps, six returned to the regiment (with at least one court-martial), and two I know nothing more about. On 8 September 1863, Lieutenant Colonel Sinex claimed that the other man, George Kitchenman, was working in a dye house in Philadelphia--but at least the published list in Bates simply records him as having been dropped from the rolls on 8 July 1863. Perhaps Garrard's hasty order prevented his being labelled a deserter. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #81 | Of the first 100 men recorded in the company C descriptive roll, 38 had scars, and 7 had tattoos (see #1, 17, 21, 27, 50, 68, and 88 for the tattoos). (The descriptive rolls seems to stop reporting identifying marks after entry 102, and none are recorded in the company A, B, D, or E descriptive lists.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #80 | Thomas Walter reports that while the regiment was in Alexandria, Virginia, company A "was quartered in a nice three-story brick house on Washington street near King". They hung a flag over the pavement, and many Alexandrians showed their feelings by going out of their way to avoid walking under it! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #79 | On 2 July 1863, at Gettysburg, Captain Matthew Hall, of company E, was wounded, while the regiment was on the far right of the Union line. They were withdrawn from that position after about an hour, because Meade thought the Union position was too extended (beyond the Confederate line). According to Thomas Walter, "Everything seemed to be quiet at that time and we saw no indication of a foe being near, except that the captain of company E was severely wounded by a mysterious bullet that came among us". | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #78 | Edward Wood (A) was initially unwilling to reenlist as a veteran volunteer, and was even transferred to the 155th Pennsylvania when the regiment was about to leave for their veterans' leave, on 2 January 1864. But he seems to have changed his mind at the last minute--he was transferred back on the next day, and reenlisted. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #77 | In "fact" #42, I gave the wrong explanation of discharges on habeas corpus petitions. The three men in company A who were discharged by habeas corpus petitions were discharged because they were minors. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #76 | Five of the men who enlisted in the 91st PA as substitutes on 29 March 1865 deserted on the same day. According to the 118th PA's regimental history (describing an execution of some deserters), losing a third of substitutes before they reached the regiment was not unusual. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #75 | The 91st witnessed at least two executions. On 29 August 1863, five bounty-jumpers from the 118th Pennsylvania were executed; the 118th's regimental history has a detailed description. Another soldier was executed on 18 December 1863. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #74 | Edgar Gregory spoke at a Fourth of July meeting in 1865 in Washington DC, to the Colored People's Educational Monument Association. The other speakers were noted abolitionists William Howard Day, John Pierpont, Henry Wilson, and George Hahn. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #73 | When the regiment returned from veterans' leave, 205 enlisted men (53%) were absent without leave wh |