The company was quickly organized and it was not long before it was brought up to strength. Company and squad drills were conducted nearly every night at the company’s headquarters, an unfinished brick building on Logan Street, which had originally been intended for a church, but was now converted into an armory and drill room. Assisting Selheimer and his lieutenants in drilling the recruits were two other militia officers from nearby areas: Captain Henry Zollinger of Perry County, who would later lead a company in the 49th Pennsylvania, and Captain William Irwin, a Mexican-American War veteran who held command of the Juniata Guards of Mifflin County. Irwin would later serve in the Logan Guards and rise to brigade commander’s rank in the Civil War.
Even before the firing upon Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, Captain Selheimer offered the services of the Logan Guards to Governor Andrew Curtin, of Pennsylvania. On April 16, and in response to Lincoln’s first-call-to-arms, Curtin summoned the Logan Guards to Harrisburg. The company immediately responded and by the following morning, had arrived in the state capital where it was joined by Ringgold Light Artillery, National Light Infantry, Washington Artillerists, and Allen Infantry.
Together with these four other companies, the Logan Guards would march into history the following day—April 18—when they arrived in Washington, first in defense of the Union. They shared in the dangerous march through Baltimore, in which several of these Pennsylvanians shed the first blood of the war, and would spend their thirty-days’ term of service mainly at Fort Washington, along with Pottsville’s Washington Artillerists.
Near the end of July, the Logan Guards were mustered out of service and the men began their journey home. Private William McKay described the journey home: “Having been mustered out of the United States service and received our pay in gold, we astonished the citizens of Harrisburg by our soldierly appearance and exemplary conduct. We arrived home safely. The entire population turned out to receive us and we received a perfect ovation. The citizens and the ‘Slemmer Guards’ received us with all the honors, the members thereof being of the most respectable families. A bounteous and never-to-be-forgotten dinner was provided for us in the Court House, and speeches of welcome were made and responded to, after which we broke ranks and the old Logan Guards ceased to have an organized existence.”
Yet the war was just beginning. Most of the men who marched off to war with the Logan Guards reenlisted that summer of Summer of 1861 and many would go on to great laurels and distinction in the Civil War. Indeed, no less than thirty-three Logan Guards would rise to commissioned officers’ rank. Among the notable were Thomas Hulings, William Irwin, Joseph A. Matthews, and William Galbraith Mitchell, who would become one of Major General Winfield Scott Hancock’s most trusted aides.
The following is the roster of the Logan Guards, complete with a brief record of their subsequent wartime service.
Major, 131st PA
3rd Lieutenant William H. Irwin
Major, 46th PA; Colonel, 128th PA; Bvt. Brigadier General
Sergeant Joseph S. Waream
Captain, Co. K, 131st PA
Sergeant Henry A. Eisenbise
Lieutenant, 45th PA; Captain, Co. A, 46th PA (Twice prisoner of war)
Sergeant William B. Weber
Adjutant, 46th PA; Captain, Co. A, 46th PA
Sergeant Chauncey M. Shull
Corporal, 2nd I, 83rd PA
Quartermaster Sergeant David Wasson
Commissary Sergeant William T. McEwen
Major, 1st PA Cavalry
Corporal Elias Eisenbise
Corporal John M. Nolte
Captain, Co. A, 46th PA
Corporal Frederick Hart
Sergeant, Co. F, 107th PA; Killed at Gettysburg, 7/1/1863
Fifer Samuel McLaughlin
Drummer William Hooper
Sergeant, Co. A, 46th PA; Mortally Wounded, Chancellorsville, Died 5/5/63
William E. Benner
Robert Betts
William H. Bowsman
James D. Burns
Jeremiah Cogley
Emmanuel Cole
Samuel Comfort
William R. Cooper
William Cowden
Franklin D’Armit
James Eckeberger
George W. Elberty
W. Asberry Elberty
Joseph Bingham Ferrerr
Abraham Files
Owen M. Fowler
George M. Freeborn
Joseph A. Frichthorn
George Hart
Private, 78th PA
James W. Henry
Sergeant, 149th PA
John Hughes
Private, Co. C, 20th PA Cavalry; Died of Disease
John T. Hunter
Captain, 1st U.S.C.T.; Mortally Wounded, Fort Wagner, SC
James M. Jackson
Private, 12th U.S. Infantry
John W. Jones
Sergeant, Co. F, 107th PA; Wounded at Fredericksburg
Henry F. Kaiser
Thomas Kinkade
John Langton
Charles Laub (Lamb)
Elias Link
Private, Co. A, 46th PA; Died at Harpers Ferry, 11/11/1862
George J. Loff
Robert A. Matthews
William McEwen
John A. McKee
William McKnew
John S. Miller
Joseph A. Miller
William Mitchell
Captain, 49th PA; Chief-of-Staff to General Winfield Scott Hancock
Robert Morten
Corporal, 22nd PA Cavalry; Killed in Action, 1864
John Nail (Nale)
Corporal, Co. F, 107th PA; Died 10/9/62 of wounds received at Antietam
Robert Nelson
Private, Co. C, 6th PA Militia (1862)
William A. Nelson
1st Sergeant, Co. K 131st PA; Captain Co. K, 36th PA Militia (1863)
Thomas A. Nurse
Corporal, Co. A, 46th PA; Killed at Antietam, 9/17/1862
John M. Postlethwait
Musician, 49th PA Band
Joseph W. Postlethwait
Musician, 49th PA Band
James Price
Henry Printz
1st Sergeant, Co. A, 46th PA; Lieut., 205th PA
James Rager (Roger)
Private, Co. D, 49th PA; Died of Disease, 5/11/1864
Bronson Rothrock
Corporal, Co. A, 46th PA
Nathaniel W. Scott
Corporal, Co. C, 1st PA Cavalry; Died 7/2/1863 in Libby Prison, from
Wounds received at Brandy Station
William Sherwood
Captain, Co. F, 49th PA
Augustus Smith
Sergeant, Co. F, 107th PA; 1st Sergeant, 22nd PA
James T. Smith
49th PA
Theodore Smith
Sergeant, Co. K, 131st PA; Private, 2nd Co., 78th PA
George A. Snyder
Private, Co. K, 131st PA; Private, 2nd Co., 78th PA
Lucien T. Snyder
Charles W. Stahl
Private, Co. A, 4th PA Militia (1862)
Francis Sterrett
2nd Lieutenant, Co. D, 107th PA
Gideon M. Tice
Sergeant, Co. A, 4th PA Militia (1862); Private, 2nd Co., 79th PA
Thomas M. Utley
Adjutant, 4th PA Militia (1862); Adjutant, 36th PA Militia (1863); Clerk in War
Department
Henry G. Walters
Gilbert Waters
Captain, Co. L, 9th PA Cavalry; Killed in Action, 6/28/1863
David B. Weber
1st Lieutenant, Co. K, 131st PA; Corporal Co. C, 78th PA
Franklin H. Wentz
David Wertz
Died of rheumatism, 1862
George White
Corporal, Co. C, 1st PA Cavalry; Wounded, 5/9/64; Captured, 6/21/64;
Released; Believed to have died of wounds
Phillip Winterod
Private, Co. D, 49th PA; Killed in Train Accident
Edwin Ziegler
Captain, Co. G, 107th PA; Major & Brevet Lt. Col., 107th PA
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