Fredericksburg and the 130th PA monument at Antietam

By September 17, 1862, the men of the 130th Pennsylvania had barely been in the Army for more than a month, and were ill-prepared to face the wholesale slaughter that they would experience that day while attacking the rebel position in the Sunken Road during the Battle of Antietam.  Despite being "green", the 130th  performed as well as could be expected for a group of soldiers who had only been trained to load and fire their weapons in the days leading up to the Battle.


The 130th Pennsylvania was sworn into Federal service to serve for a period of nine months.  Antietam, the single bloodiest day in American History, would only be the 130th's first of three battles they would fight in over the coming months.  Their second battle, the Battle of Fredericksburg on December 13, 1862, would continue to test these young soldiers' mettle, and present them with a whole new host of tests of bravery, and horrific sights that they would not soon forget.  Private Edward Spangler, a sixteen year old from York County, would later recall one such sight soon after crossing the Rapahannock River into the City of Fredericksburg: 
There were, "...many dead Confederates along the houses skirting the river.  One dead Confederate especially attracted my attention.  He was in a standing position leaning against the corner of a block-house with his gun in his hands, and all of the head above his mouth was taken off by a shell.  I have read in a magazine an article describing the attitude of soldiers who maintained a life like attitude after death by reason of rigor mortis; but none of these equalled in peculiarity the remarkable standing position of this beheaded soldier."

Pvt. Edward Spangler

"Early the next morning," continued Spangler, "we prepared for battle."  As a regiment in William French's division, the 130th was amongst the very first regiments to charge the strong rebel position on Marye's Heights; the high ground over looking Fredericksburg to the west.  Spangler recalled the events of that day:

"Emerging into the open we were about to deploy in line of battle under a deadly fire, when we encountered a mill-race or canal, from four to six feet deep and fifteen feetwide,which ran clear around the city in the rear."  "It was impassable, except at the few street bridges, some of which had nothing left but stringers over which we had to pass in single file.  It was first discovered in our division by the head of column, and was a most serious and embarassing obstacle, and very disconcerting under a raking storm of projectiles. After crossing, we were compelled for a considerable distance to march by columns of four.  While in this formation a shower of missiles created havoc in our ranks, one of which took off the head of Captain McLaughlin of Company H, scattering the brains over our company. In re-aligning, we had to climb over a rail fence, and as my brother reached the top rail, a cannon ball cut the third rail below, only three feet to my right. A second either way would have been a fatal shot to him, or three feet to the left would have obviated the infliction upon the reader of this common place and unvarnished narrative.  As we came to the slope of the first elevation, we were met with a still more frightful fire of shell, grape and musketry.  The Confederate artillery converged its fire on our hapless division, and our men were stricken down by hundreds.  When we approached the crest of the hill in the immediate front of Marye's Heights we were ordered to lie down. As my haversack was filled to the top...my brother requested me to doff it as it would retard me in charging up the Heights, and I reluctantly complied.  Lying on my left was Eli Myers, formerly a clerk in P. A. & S. Small's store, and on my right was William Clemens, and next to him, Frank.  A bullet knocked off Clements' cap, and a moment later a shell exploded over us, a piece of which violently struck Myers in the back.  I got up to assist in carrying him off the field, but being small, was pushed aside by others equally anxious to get beyond the range of fire, for we all felt that success was a forlorn hope.  The wound proved fatal.  We then moved forward and as we approached the stonewall, rifle pits and redoubts on the Heights, we poured in a heavy volley and charged, but were swept back a short distance by blazing musketry, grape and canister, rising tier after tier, which no troops could withstand.  As we were about to renew the charge the Confederates sprang from their breast works and charged, but were hurled back in confusion. Confederate reinforcements arrived, all veteran marksmen, until  they were four ranks deep and completely sheltered.  These poured forth such an unremitting blast of deadly fire that our regiment again began to waver.  It was then that Colonel Zinn, our heroic commander, seized the regimental flag staff in his left hand, and waving his sword with his right, cried out, "Stick to your standard [flag], boys!  The One Hundred and Thirtieth never abandons its colors; give them another volley!"  The words had scarcely left his lips, when his brain was pierced by a Confederate bullet. He was an intrepid and accomplished officer, a strict disciplinarian, and an adept in tactics, and would, had he lived, have attained high rank." 

130th PA flag

Col. Henry Zinn

Zinn's grave, Mt. Zion Cemetery

Originally from York County, Zinn resided in Churchtown, Cumberland County, with his wife and three children. At the age of 27, Zinn, a teacher, was selected to lead the 130th Pennsylvania.  Zinn became loved and respected by the men of the 130th, and his last brave act would help rally a portion of his regiment, and help them maintain order through the remainder of the hellish fight.  Zinn would leave behind a young wife, Mary, who had already been grieving for the loss of two of her small children, from disease, earlier in the year.  Zinn's final resting place is in the Mt. Zion Cemetery, near Churchtown.

The spring would see the 130th Pennsylvania go into action once again at the Battle of  Chancellorsville, in May of 1863.  By mid June, the regiment's nine month enlistment was over, and many of the men returned home, while others quickly reenlisted with other regiments, to return to the front for the remainder of the war.  Either way, the 130th Pennsylvania had officially completed it's chapter in the history of the American Civil War.   

Forty two years after their "baptism of fire, on September 17, 1904, the surviving veterans of the 130th would return to the Antietam Battlefield to dedicate a monument to their regiment's memory.  It is the regiment's only monument on any of it's three battlefields, so creating a memorable and fitting design would have been very important to the veterans.  Other than a carved stone figure of a young soldier standing at 'parade rest', the veterans chose to adorn their monument with the bronze face of their beloved Colonel Zinn, who had lead them so bravely through Antietam, and who had fallen so tragically at Fredericksburg.  His likeness forever stoically faces forward, toward the enemy lines. 

130th PA monument at Antietam

sources:
Bates, Samuel P. History of Pennsylvania volunteers, 1861-5 : prepared in compliance with acts of the legislature. Harrisburg: B. Singerly, State Printer, 1869.

Spangler, Edward W. My Little War Experience. York, PA: York Daily Publishing Co., 1904.

The 130th Pennsylvania

Having lived and studied in the small Cumberland Valley town of Shippensburg, I have always been drawn to the stories of the 130th Pennsylvania Infantry.  Nearly six full companies of the Regiment hailed from farms and communities within Cumberland County, including Company D, which was raised right in the heart of Shippensburg.  Much of the remainder of the 130th was organized in neighboring York County.

flag of the 130th PA - Capitol Preservation Committee

Raised in the late summer of 1862, the 130th was one of fifteen Pennsylvania regiments (122nd to 137th Regiments) organized to serve an enlistment period of nine months.  Even though many earlier Cumberland County men had enlisted for three years with the famed Pennsylvania Reserve Corps, and had already seen many grand battles, the men of the 130th would not be left out.  Those short nine months would take the 130th through some of the War's most terrible battles.  Antietam, where they doggedly battled the Rebels in the Sunken Road.  Fredericksburg, where they took part in the bloody and hopeless assaults on the enemy position at Marye's Heights.  Chancellorsville, where they helped solidify the Union flank after a surprise attack by Stonewall Jackson sent thousands of Union troops fleeing in fear and confusion.

The story of the 130th fits in well with the story of Pennsylvania's Emergency Men.  A month before Lee's movement northward, into Maryland, which triggered the "Emergency" in Pennsylvania, the 130th marched off to war.  With Harrisburg a perceived target, and the Cumberland Valley a natural highway for the Rebel troops, one can imagine that the minds of the men in the 130th traveled back to the homes they left behind.  The organizing of the Emergency Militia in defense of the Commonwealth may have helped put the 130th's mind at ease, but as they took part in the pursuit of the Rebel army through Maryland and into the southern portion of the Cumberland Valley, one would expect that their determination was at its height.

As chance would have it, the 130th's first battle was Antietam, the bloodiest single day in American history.  The men of the Regiment were no doubt unsure of what awaited them that September day, but by the end of battle, the 130th had held strong, and proved themselves veterans.  Forty six members of the Regiment were killed, 132 were wounded.  They did their part in ensuring the safety of their homes and loved not far to the north.

Nine months later in June 1863, after the 130th returned home, Robert E. Lee and the Rebel army once again threatened the peaceful Cumberland Valley by pushing north.  In fact, when part of Confederate General Robert Rodes' Division occupied Shippensburg, they pillaged the home of the Captain of Co. D, James Kelso, once word spread that a former Union officer lived there.  Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin once more called for the creation of a force of "Emergency Militia".  Scores of men who had recently returned home from service in a "nine month regiment" answered the call.  Since these men had military/combat experience, many were given higher rank and authority in the newly formed militia units, as they marched off to fight for their homes.

As a student of the Maryland Campaign, and an adopted son of the Keystone State, something has always interested me about the stories of Pennsylvania's nine month regiments.  While six of these regiments saw fighting during the Battle of Antietam, the 130th has always had a special place in my thoughts.  Perhaps it is the fact that I lived among the same towns, roads, and farms they once knew.  Or, maybe it is the fascinating loss of innocence that raw, 'green' troops experience the moment they fire their rifles at an enemy, or the first time they witness a comrade struck down in battle.  Either way, to best understand these men, it is best to hear their stories, thoughts, and memories in their own words.  Below are a few such voices.

TO WAR!

 
Speaking to an audience in 1894, at the Capt. Colwell G.A.R. (Grand Army of the Republic) post in Carlisle, 1st Lt. John Hays, formerly of the 130th Pennsylvania, Co. A, documents the Regiment's journey towards their "baptism of fire" at Antietam; a mere month since they enlisted.
"On Sunday, August 17, 1862, [the Regiment] was finally armed and equipped, and on Monday, August 18, it was carried in open cars over the Northern Central Railroad to Baltimore.  On its march through the city, though it met with some scowling looks, it was complimented on its fine appearance, and the First Sergeant of Company A received a beautiful wreath as a mark of admiration for his manly, soldierly bearing, or for the fine appearance of the command to which he belonged.  After reaching the station of the Washington Branch of the B. and O. Railroad, the Regiment was taken to the rooms of the Union Relief Committee and given a good supper.  Late at night it left Baltimore and arrived at Washington early the next morning."



Pvt. Edward Spangler

Pvt. Edward Spangler of Co. K, then sixteen years old, remembered leaving Washington bright and early that morning, writing in his 1904 memoir, "at daylight we got our first view of the white marble Capitol.  We had never before seen an edifice so large, noble, majestic and imposing in appearance.  Its present lofty dome, with its tiers of columns, beautiful ornamentations, its summit surmounted by the colossal statue of Liberty, was then erected only a score of feet above the adjacent wings, with a huge crane projecting from the opening.  After breakfast, the regiment with colors flying moved under a hot sun up Pennsylvania Avenue, unpaved and full of ruts, down to Long Bridge spanning the Potomac, which we crossed..."

Describing the 130th's march out of Washington, Lieutenant Hays adds that, "...[the regiment] marched down Pennsylvania Avenue and over the Long Bridge into Dixey's land to take its stand against the army of the Rebellion.  Marching down the avenue and across the city, the "Hallelujah Chorus" was started by some of the boys and when joined in by the whole regiment, nine hundred strong, it became a volume of sound that made the windows rattle and stirred the hearts of Union men in the Capital City.  Early in the afternoon of that day it reached Division Camp Welles, beyond Arlington Heights and became part of the force under General Casey, then in charge of the fortifications near Washington."

While in camp near Arlington, Co. K was ordered to stand guard around the impressive property, once home to Robert E. Lee.  Edward Spangler noted that the buildings of the estate were, "...surrounded by venerable trees, consisted of a large and stately brick structure with slave quarters and stables.  From the ample porch with its immense Colonial columns, we had a picturesque view of the Capitol City.  The old portraits of the Custis and Lee families were still hanging on the parlor walls.  The interior architecture in Mrs. Custis' time, was a perfect reproduction of an aristocratic Virginia interior of a century ago.  All about the place had the aspect of antiquity and former wealth and ease.  It was rumored that our company was detached to perform guard duty at Arlington during our entire term of service.  To this we emphatically demurred, as we had enlisted to fight the enemy, and not to protect from spoilation the property of the great Confederate chieftan."

The 130th would remain near Arlington until August 27th, when the Regiment marched off towards their next encampments.  For many of the men in the 130th, marching mile after mile was difficult and daunting.  The march for these new recruits was made all the more worse by the blistering heat of that late summer in northern Virginia.  Private Edward Spangler noted that the day, "...was very hot and sultry, and the marching with our heavy clothing and accoutrements very fatiguing.  Many were exhausted and fell out of the ranks before half the distance was compassed."  Writing home to his brother, Elijah Daihl, of Co. D remarked of the heat and spoiled landscape, "This Cutry [Country] is like a Desert I don't know what the rebbl wants with it now nor what any body els wins wit it I wouldn't live here for any thing but for to fight the rebbles for I intend to fight them till they kill me or els I kill them."  Hays noted that the Regiment arrived, "...there with hardly two hundred and fifty men out of over nine hundred, because of the almost intolerable dust and heat." 

During the devastating Union defeat at the 2nd Battle of Bull Run, the 130th was marched back to Washington where it became part of the "reserve army corps of the Potomac."  "The terrific cannonading sounded to us like the continuous detonations of distant thunder.  We were anxious to know the result of the battle, and had not long to wait, for, on the second day after, along came the retreating Army of the Potomac [and the Army of Virginia], dust-laden, ragged and weary," wrote Spangler.



1st Lt. John Hays



The following week, Hays and the rest of the 130th Pennsylvania were "...ordered to take three days rations, canteens, blankets and overcoats, and join General Sumner's Corps at Rockville, Maryland.  Leaving a guard in charge of its camp and baggage, it marched over the Chain Bridge through Tenallytown to Rockville where on September 9th, with the 14th Connecticut and 108th New York Regiments, it was formed into the Second Brigade, commanded by Col. Dwight Morris, 14th Conn. of the 3rd Division, Gen. Wm. H. French, of the Second Army Corps, Gen. Edwin V. Sumner."

The added weight of blankets, overcoats, and other equipment on their first march with the Army was more than some could bare.  Spangler noted that, "...all superfluous clothing was doffed, and both sides of the highway were strewn with overcoats, knapsacks and other implements.  We had no tents, and our only covering at night thenceforward were thin woolen blankets...[which] were rolled up in the form of a scarf, tied together at the ends and worn from the left shoulder to the right side."  Hays adds that, "without tents and with scanty rations, the men slept on the ground and satisfied their hunger with hard-tack, green corn and apples.  A foraged potato, half roasted, was a delicacy, and meat had become almost a dream.  Time was precious and the march was too hurried and the confusion too great to keep up the supply of rations or even to cook them at all times."



Continuing their arduous march on September 13th, through stifling heat and choking dust, Spangler and the rest of the 130th, "...crossed a commanding range of hills...  We beheld the church-spired city of Frederick and the broad, fertile and opulent valley of the Monocacy, shut in by low mountains of surpassing grace and outline, with all nature abloom, - a scene in the fierce sunlight of enchanting beauty."  Once in the city, Spangler experienced a heart warming welcome from throngs of happy citizens.  Upon entering the city, "...with full brigades with all the pomp of war and past the Army Commander [McClellan] and glittering staff, the streets resounding with applause, amounted to an ovation.  The stars and stripes...were now unfurled and floated to the breeze.  Ladies, dressed in their best, waved their handkerchiefs and flags.  The populace cheered to the echo, tokens of a most cordial welcome, and supplied water and refreshments to the thirsty and hungry men.  Their smiles and tears of gratitude and joy, attested their loyalty to the Union in no uncertain degree."  Such a reception was a rare occurrence, especially for Union army veterans who were more accustom to the shuttered windows, jeers, and cold shoulders received while marching through towns in the South.  The patriotic display did much to raise the hearts of soldiers, whether veteran or untested, as in the case of the 130th.     



McClellan entering Frederick, MD - Library of Congress



The next day, the 130th Pennsylvania would get their first view of battle, albeit from a distance.  Hays remarked that, "on that beautiful Sunday afternoon, the 14th of September, 1862, when that battle [of South Mountain] was being fought...in the distance could be seen puffs of smoke rising from the mountain side and from its summit, and the dull sound of battle could be heard."  All day long, the men of the 2nd Corps were "start and stop" marched toward the passes on South Mountain at Turner's and Frostown Gaps.  Each stop brought rumors of Union victory and an end to the fighting, and with them, the men of the 130th prepared to bivouac for a much needed rest.  However, each time, "camp fires had been made, tin cups of coffee put on [the fire], and green corn placed on the coals to cook for supper...the order to advance was given, and at the double quick, away they had to go, three of four miles across the country, plunging down steep hills, falling into streams of water hidden in the darkness, until the battle field of South Mountain was neared and the noise of the conflict had died away and the battle was over."  Edward Spangler remembered of the exhausting ordeal that, "it fell to the unfortunate lot of our and other companies to be stationed in a meadow entirely too soggy to recline upon for much needful rest and slumber.  Fatigued, weary and almost famished, we were compelled to stand in this uninviting spot for hours."  

Soon, the men of the 130th would have their first taste of a Civil War battlefield, but probably not in the way many anticipated.  There in the dim light, remembered Hays, "...could be seen a long line of men resting quietly along the road, and beside them the wearied men of the 130th laid down to rest for an hour or two until early dawn, they were again roused to find that the tired men beside them were those gathered from the field whom the battle had put to sleep forever, and then on to the base of the mountain where still lay some who had been missed by their comrades."  John Hemmingen (or Hemminger), a Private in Co. E, "awoke and found where [he] had lain a human foot and fingers, that had been sacrificed for or against the Union cause."  For young Edward Spangler, a similar experience forever burned in his memory:  "The first evidence I saw of the conflict was a dead cavalryman, evidently a courier.  He was shot through the head, and his blood-covered face and glassy eyes made a ghastly sight.  He was the first dead soldier I saw, and it was by no means a pleasing spectacle.  As I reached the crest of [South Mountain],...hundreds of dead Union and Confederate soldiers covered the ground, denoting the violence of the contest."

The next morning, John Hays and the 130th made a "...weary march...over the mountain, through Boonesboro and Keedysville, across the [Little] Antietam [Creek], until at night a halt was made in the rear of the hill that overlooked the ground to be made historic by the efforts of the contending heroes.  There, during Monday night, all of Tuesday and Tuesday night, lay the Regiment with its, and other commands, old and new, and learned on [Wednesday] the never to be forgotten whiz and ringing bang of bursting shells.

Wednesday morning brought the terrible Battle of Antietam; the 130th Pennsylvania would be "green" no longer.

130th Pennsylvania monument at Antietam - Dave Maher

sources:

Armstrong Jr., Marion V. Unfurl Those Colors!: McClellan, Sumner, and the Second Army Corps in the Antietam Campaign. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2008.

Bates, Samuel P. History of Pennsylvania volunteers, 1861-5 : prepared in compliance with acts of the legislature. Harrisburg: B. Singerly, State Printer, 1869.  

Carman, Ezra. The Maryland Campaign of September 1862. Vol. 1, South Mountain. ed. Thomas G. Clemens. New York: Savas Beatie, 2010.

Daihl, Elijah McGee. letter to brother Rueben. accessed 27 November 2011. available from: http://webspace.ship.edu/jqbao/ShipMuseum/page26/page29/page59/page59.html#2; Internet.

Hays, John. The 130 Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers in the Maryland Campaign and the Battle of Antietam. An address delivered June 7, 1894, before Capt. Colwell Post 201 G. A. R. Carlisle, PA: Herald Printing Co., 1894.

Spangler, Edward W. My Little War Experience. York, PA: York Daily Publishing Co., 1904.

Antietam National Battlefield: Images

 video taken at dawn 9/17/10

149 years ago today, two American armies slaughtered each other by the tens of thousands (roughly 23,110) on the hills and fields outside of Sharpsburg, MD.  By sundown, the Battle of Antietam would cement itself as the single bloodiest day in American History.  One Emergency Militiaman, who could hear the Battle rage that day, off in the distance, would poignantly write:
"A dull gruff belch, at irregular intervals, accompanied by a sense of concussion, told the story of the distant conflict.  This inspired strange and solemn feelings.  Human lives were being offered up as a sacrifice upon the altar of our country, and thousands of homes would sit in dread suspense until it should be known upon whom the fatal blows had fallen."

For those who have studied the battle, I'm sure you are quite aware of the mesmerizing, yet shocking photographs of the carnage, like the one below.  Antietam was the first Civil War battlefield to be photographed, just days after the fighting ended.  When the images were printed in newspapers (woodcut versions) and displayed in galleries, the American people were not prepared for what they saw.  The scenes were nothing like the romantic descriptions of death on the battlefield that were commonplace in the pre-war era.  It was supposed to be gallant and heroic; a stark contrast to the bloody heaps of twisted and bloated corpses that were strewn about the fields of Antietam.  Numbers of casualties aside, the Battle of Antietam literally changed the way America viewed war.  [You may view a gallery of period Antietam images here.]


carnage near the Dunker Church - Library of Congress

For those of you that have have visited Antietam National Battlefield, it might be hard to imagine that scenes, like the one above, ever took place.  With the rolling landscape, the meandering creek, and charming buildings, Antietam is located in one of the most beautiful and serene settings.  Not exactly how you might imagine a Civil War battlefield to look.  A testament to the communities and people of the region, modern day Antietam is also a shining beacon for historic preservation, as a careful watch for development and sprawl enables visitors to better experience the story and history of the battlefield, and the region as well.

In honor of the tranquility of Antietam, and the contrasting horrific destruction that took place there, I thought I would share just a few photos of Antietam's silent beauty, which I tried to capture while out and about on the battlefield.

[FYI: check back this evening for another Antietam related blog post]

128th Pennsylvania monument (l), 137th Pennsylvania monument (r)

Antietam National Cemetery

130th Pennsylvania monument at the Bloody Lane

a tree swallow stands guard

the Otto Farm

position of Battery B, 4th US Artillery, along Hagerstown Turnpike

Irish Brigade monument

cannon on the Piper Farm

Burnside Bridge

Dunker Curch at sunrise

Richards, Louis. Eleven Days in the Militia During the War of the Rebellion; Being a Journal of the "Emergency" Campaign of 1862. Philadelphia: Collins, Printer, 1883.