GETTYSBURG - Schuylkill County shed its share of blood as the tide turned against the Confederacy 150 years ago today.
"It's known as the turning point of the Civil War," Tom Shay, Schuylkill County Civil War historian, told a recent roundtable at the county historical society. "The high watermark of the Confederacy. It was the last big hoorah for the Confederacy invading the North. I'd say the last opportunity to come away with a victory in the war."
On Tuesday, Shay visited the battlefield, which stretches about 25 square miles. Across the weathered blocks of granite chiseled into the likenesses of men, horses and personified virtue remind visitors what occurred here two lifetimes ago.
More than 700 soldiers from Schuylkill County took part in the battle, July 1 through 3, 1863. Most of them fought on the first two days of the struggle, the majority in the 96th Pennsylvania Volunteer Regiment. A handful were at the immortal Pickett's Charge. One witnessed the death of a general. Another was taken to prison and did not see home for almost two years.
More than 7,800 lost their lives during the battle, including 13 from Schuylkill County, while 27,224 were wounded and 11,199 missing when the smoke cleared.
"I think the Battle of Gettysburg convinced the South they weren't going to win the war," Shay said. "Now it was a matter of just trying to wear down the North morale-wise. The South wasn't going to defeat them on the field anymore. They'd lost too many men and too much artillery."
While books, documentaries, dramas and thousands of re-enactors recreate the event for the nation as a whole, local historians bring the story home.
"I was very young when my parents took my sister and I to Gettysburg," said John David Hoptak, Orwigsburg, a Civil War historian, writer and park ranger at the Gettysburg battlefield. "I was probably not more than 6 or 7 years old, actually. Going back home and looking in Orwigsburg, I looked at local cemeteries and some of the regiments that were on the gravestones and began to dig deep and it turned out to be quite an illustrious history of Schuylkill County."
The first day
When the battle was joined on that hot Wednesday morning, a number of soldiers from the county were with the 151st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment, which became heavily engaged.
"The 151st was known as 'The Schoolteachers' Regiment,' made up of a lot of school teachers," said Mark Major, Civil War historian. "But one of the companies, Company I, was from mainly Cressona, some from Pottsville. They were in the first day's battle. They were heavily engaged, and of all the Schuylkill County units at the battle, they suffered the highest casualties. Killed, mortally wounded. They were engaged west of the seminary, retreated past the seminary, where they were engaged again and captured. They were taken to Libby Prison in Richmond."
Of the Schuylkill County soldiers in the unit, three were killed in action in the battle, 12 captured in the retreat and 15 wounded.
The second day
The 96th Pennsylvania Volunteer Regiment was the only unit in the battle comprised mostly of Schuylkill County men. Led by Maj. William Lessig, Lebanon, the regiment marched 131 miles from its picket line north of Fredericksburg, Va., to Gettysburg, joining up with the rest of the Sixth Army Corps of the Army of the Potomac on the way.
"Their influence at the end of the second day was enough that when they came into the line, the Confederates knew their attack wasn't going to work," Shay said.
In his book, "Confrontation at Gettysburg," Hoptak wrote about the arrival of the Sixth Corps and its famous march.
"The only force not yet on the field that morning was the Sixth Corps commanded by John Sedgwick. Having received orders late on July 1 to make their way without delay to Gettysburg, Sedgwick's men set out from Manchester, Md., on what would be a marathon march, covering more than 30 miles during 19 hours of almost continuous marching and finally arriving at Gettysburg late on the afternoon of July 2."
The Confederate Corps of General James Longstreet massed upon the extreme left of the Union's left flank, so the Sixth Corps immediately formed a line and were pushed forward onto Peach Orchard and Little Round Top. The 96th Pa. took position behind a stone fence, which it held with slight loss until the end of the battle. Fortunately, the 96th Pa. was not heavily engaged, which was the only reprieve the troops received after their arduous journey. They brought 365 men to the field and lost one in battle.
The third day
Auburn native Pvt. Joseph H.A. Lindermuth, Auburn, Company L, 1st Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry, posed for his regiment's monument. The regiment was to the left of the artillery fire before Pickett's Charge on the afternoon of July 3. The 1st Pa. was under orders from Gen. George Meade to "charge the assaulting column should it succeed in breaking the infantry line in front." The orders were never carried out, because the Confederates never broke through.
Prisoner of war, diarist
Lt. Charles P. Potts, Pottsville, one of the officers of Company C of the 151st Regiment, was captured in a church in Gettysburg on July 1 after his troops retreated from the battle.
Excerpts from his diary are in the Civil War exhibit of the Schuylkill County Historical Society, as well as a chapter with entries from the diary in "The Schuylkill County History of the Civil War," which was published by the historical society. In the diary, Potts wrote a description of the fight at Gettysburg up to his capture and scribed a few entries while in captivity. Potts was a prisoner in five different prisons and wasn't exchanged until Sept. 9, 1864.
July 1, 1863: "Marched from Emmitsburg to Gettysburg without a halt and directly into the fight," Potts wrote. "Careful fighting on both sides. Forces on either side. Our regiment supports a Battery the greater part of a day. Went to the front about 3 o'clock. Rebs outnumbered us two to one. Form line in entrenchments before Seminary. Parts of four regiments in entrenchments held rebs in check for about half an hour. Forced to retire into town. Rebs swing around the town and capture about 5000 officers and men."
July 2, 1863: (A description of captivity) "Placed in field about one mile northwest of town. Rebs held in check, but think they will be able to drive our men on the morrow. Guarded by the 17th Va. Infantry, commanded by Col. French. Well treated, and find an old Colonel a gentleman, but no provisions."
July 3, 1862: "Batteries in full play. Awful cannonading and musketry. Rebs feel bad and look blue. Are not very confident of success." (Afternoon) "Battle wages with great fury." (Night) "Great confusion among the rebs. Cattle and trains moving, that sound very much like a skedaddle. Ask guard what is wrong, he tells me they are going foraging. Don't see much in that light. Ask him if he don't wish himself back in old Va. He says the days will not be long, and he will be through. Is not in favor of fighting the north. Does not want Yankees to subdue them and confiscate their homes, and dishonor their wives. No rations for three days. Offered parole advised not to accept."
July 4, 1863: "Glorious old fourth but cannot enjoy it much in my present position no rations, no clothes, but what is on my back, and old half of a blanket. Rebs retreating as fast as possible, through drenching rain."
Others who fought
While there weren't additional units from Schuylkill County at the battle of Gettysburg, several other soldiers from the area did fight in the three-day battle.
"Even in a battle in which we didn't heavily participate in countywide, we still had plenty of key people who were at the battle and certainly the sacrifices they made are commemorable," Shay said.
On the first day of Gettysburg, the Union army lost Gen. John Reynolds of the 1st Corps. One of his staff officers was Assistant Adjutant-general Edward Baird, Pottsville, who was right next to Reynolds when he was shot down. Baird wrote of Reynolds' death:
"After throwing the first troops forward into the woods and turning to come out of them, the enemy opened a most terrific fusillade, and an accidental shot, not from a sharp-shooter as has been stated, struck him just as he was getting clear of the timber. As he fell from his horse, his foot hung in the stirrup and he was dragged ten feet or so before it was loosened. I at once jumped from my horse, and opened his clothes, but in an instant saw that there was no hope for his recovery."
Capt. Samuel Russel, Co. H, 96th Pennsylvania, wrote a letter to his mother on July 4, 1863, from a battlefield near Gettysburg. It was published in the Miners Journal on July 12, 1863.
"Our Corps arrived here on the afternoon of the 2nd after a hard march of 32 miles, and just in time to save our army from a total defeat, as it appeared at the time," Russel wrote. "Our Corps went into it splendidly, driving the rebels in every direction and recapturing the artillery that the 5th Corps had lost. Our regiment had but one man wounded. We were right in where the balls flew thick and fast, and how we got off so well I do not see."
Three of the four Beaumont Brothers of Saint Clair fought at Gettysburg, serving in Co. A, 88th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Pvt. William Beaumont was killed during the first day of the battle, shot in the neck. He is buried in the main cemetery at Gettysburg.
Pvt. John Beaumont was captured, paroled later and killed at Petersburg, Va. Pvt. George Beaumont was wounded at Gettysburg but survived the war. He died in 1868 in a mining accident.
Their youngest brother, Charles, was in the 7th Pennsylvania Calvary, 129th Pa. Regiment, and 39th Pa. Militia. He died in Saint Clair in 1903 and is buried in Odd Fellows Cemetery.
On Feb. 7, 1864, John Beaumont sent a letter to the Pottsville Miner's Journal stating his pride in serving the Union, and for representing Schuylkill County in the Civil War and at the Battle of Gettysburg.
"I am a native of St. Clair, Schuylkill County," Beaumont wrote. "No citizens of Schuylkill need be ashamed of her for she has done nobly in this rebellion, in giving men and money to uphold the laws. There are four of us in this regiment from St. Clair. In the Battle of Gettysburg, one of my brothers was killed, another was wounded and I captured and taken to Richmond. I feel rejoiced to know that we will soon see the loved ones at home, after a long absence. I have been in the service of my country two years and six months but I am not tired of it, and am removed to try three more years of it, if necessary. I entered the service when the rebellion first began, and I am determined to see it ended."
Unrest on homefront
Although there were many volunteers from Schuylkill County dedicated to the Union's cause, there was unrest that accompanied the war drafts in Schuylkill County. In 1860, the population of Schuylkill County was about 89,000 people. During the four years of the war, there may have been as many as 10,000 volunteers who left the county to enlist to fight.
"There was a high rate of volunteerism, so you have to wonder how many of those guys just wanted to get out of the coal mines," Hoptak said. "When they began to institute the draft in '62 and '63, there was a lot of draft rioting that was breaking out, especially in the coal regions, up around Heckscherville and Cass Township, outside of Pottsville. So at the same time you have so many men marching off to war, you have a lot of unrest at home."
Shay said the unrest was caused by rumors and unease with so many men leaving the mines and the idea that it wasn't their fight.
"Some of the men were concerned, first of all, that they were going to get drafted and blacks were going to get brought in to work the mines," he said. "Another concern was that a lot of these men were still citizens of Ireland in Cass Township and that's where the focal point of the riots were. They said they had no involvement with this war and no argument with the South."
Eventually, troops were sent in to try to keep the peace but the disturbances persisted. In the end, President Abraham Lincoln said to make it look like the quota had been filled for the area and leave them alone.
"Anthracite at the time was key to fueling a lot of the Union locomotives, the Ironclads, a lot of the shipping that was needed, so we needed the mines up there," Shay said. "There was no sense in bringing these veteran miners out into the war, where they would be rookies, rather than keep mining the coal."