Nick Biddle's Grave & An Update On The 48th PA Monument Restoration

This past Saturday saw me in old Schuylkill County, so while there I, as usual, did some cemetery stomping. I decided to go to the Bethel A.M.E. African-American Cemetery, where First Defender Nicholas Biddle is buried. I was most pleasantly surprised to discover that a new headstone has been placed in tribute to Biddle, to replace the original that was destroyed  many decades ago. I am embarrassed to say that I do not know who led this effort or when the new headstone went up, but to whomever it was, I extend my most heartfelt thanks and gratitude.

Nicholas Biddle's new headstone

Inscription:

"Nicholas Biddle

Captain Wren's Orderly

Aug 2 1876

First to Shed Blood in Civil War"

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I would like also to take this opportunity to thank two donors, both descendants of General James Nagle, who this past week contributed very generously to the effort to replace the missing sword from the general's statue at the Antietam National Battlefield. Their donations, matched on a one-to-one basis by the Western Maryland Interpretative Association, has brought us over the $5,000.00 mark and has taken us that much closer to getting the general's sword back on his side.

48th Pennsylvania Soldiers Buried at Arlington National Cemetery

Mr. Thomas Grund, Senior Vice Commander of the Colonel James D. Brady Camp 63, Sons of Union Veterans, very kindly and very generously sent me a complete listing of 48th Pennsylvania Soldiers buried in National Cemeteries throughout the United States.

The following is a list of those interred at the Arlington National Cemetery:

ARMSTRONG, John: Private, Company G; Wounded 5/12/1864 at Spotsylvania; Died of Wounds on July 1, 1864; Buried in Section 13, Grave #6611.
BETZ, George: Private, Company A; Died June 17, 1864; Buried in Section 13, Grave 6304.
BONER, James: Private, Company I; Wounded in Action, 5/30/1864; Died of Wounds on June 22, 1864; Buried in Section 13, Grave 5828.
CLARK, John: Private, Company I; Died of Wounds Received in Action, 6/8/1864; Buried in Section 27, Grave #978.
DAVIS, Thomas: Private, Company H; Killed at Petersburg, 6/17/1864; Buried in Section 22, Grave #15388.
DAVIS, William: Private, Company H; Wounded at Cold Harbor; Died of Wounds, 9/5/1864; Buried in Section 13, Grave #8702.
EISENHUTH, George T.: Private, Company H; Died, 2/17/1865; Buried in Section 13, Grave #8237.
HECKMAN, Samuel: Private, Company B; Died of Wounds Received in Action, 6/12/1864; Buried in Section 27, Grave #711.
KOPP, Lewis W.: Private, Company H; Died, 10/1/1864; Buried in Section 13, Grave #5552.
MOHAN, Michael: Private, Company C; Wounded at Spotsylvania, 5/12/1864; Died of Wounds, 5/20/1864; Buried in Section 27, Grave #199.
RABER, Jonas Z.: Private, Company D; Died in Washington, 7/1/1864; Buried in Section 13, Grave #6825.
SCHNEIDER, William: Private, Company H; Died of Wounds Received in Action, 9/12/1864; Buried in Section 13, Grave #7750.
SNYDER, Simon: Private, Company A; Wounded at Cold Harbor; Died of Wounds, 6/16/1864; Buried in Section 13, Grave #6292.
WAGNER, Aaron P.: Private, Company D; Wounded at Petersburg, 4/2/1865; Died of Wounds, 4/5/1865; Buried in Section 13, Grave #10485.

WESSLEY, Andrew: Private, Company F; Killed in Action at Petersburg, 6/17/1864; Buried in Section 13, Grave #6275.
WILLONER, Jeremiah: Private, Company I; Wounded at Cold Harbor, 6/3/1864; Died of Wounds, 6/22/1864; Buried in Section 13, Grave #5825.

Mr. Grund also included a list of soldiers from the 48th killed in action at the Second Battle of Bull Run, 8/29/1862. Confederate soldiers buried the dead of this fight on the field, but most were later reinterred, many of them underneath Mrs. Robert E. Lee's one-time Rose Garden. The monument pictured above was placed over the grave of these unknown soldiers; in all some 2,111 remains gathered from the Bull Run battlefield and on the route to the Rappahannock. It is likely that some, if not most, of the 48th's Killed in Action at 2nd Bull Run here rest. Those soldiers are:

BRENNAN, Michael: Private, Company E

FILBERT, Henry A. M.: Captain, Company K

FILBERT, Roland D.: Sergeant, Company K

HATCH, Oliver C.: Sergeant, Company C
KILRAIN, Michael: Private, Company F

LEISER, Charles F.: Private, Company I
LEISER, John H.: Private, Company A

MACKEY, William: Corporal, Company E
MCFEELEY, Hugh: Private, Company E

MILLER, Charles: Private, Company D

MOYER, Samuel: Private, Company E

NAGLE, William: Private, Company H

PETIT, Samuel: Private, Company H

REESE, Lewis M.: Private, Company B

WISER, John: Private, Company C
KELLY, Thomas: Private, Company H

LINK, Hesgian: Private, Company I

One More For The Blog Roll. . .

I have had the great pleasure to become acquainted with Jared Frederick over the past week. Jared is a history student at Penn State and, like me, is an avid student of the Civil War. Jared is also an illustrator who has had a number of small books published. This summer, Jared will be interning at the Gettysburg National Military Park. He has also just launched a new Civil War blog , and he wrote to me asking if I would link to his site. I agreed. . .but, rather jokingly, only if he did an illustration of General James Nagle. Much to my surprise, about two hours later, he sent one to me. . .I was impressed. (He even included Nagle's Mexican-American War sword).

Anyway, let's all welcome Jared to the Civil War blogosphere. His site is listed as "Gettysburg Intern" in my links' list.

How cool is this?