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| The Allison Brothers Alexander-John-George-James (from Schuylkill County in the Civil War) |
150 years ago. . .In homes throughout Schuylkill County, tears were shed as the families either received the letters of company commanders or read in the newspaper that their son, husband, brother, father had been killed in action in far-away Virginia, near a place called Cold Harbor.
But few--very few--throughout the entire nation, perhaps, would shed more tears or mourned as deeply as Mrs. Agnes Allison of Port Carbon, Pennsylvania.
On June 3, 1864. . .150 years ago. . .she laid to rest her son, George, who had been mortally wounded at Spotsylvania. On that very same day, as she watched the coffin containing George's body be lowered into the ground within the confines of the Presbyterian Cemetery in Port Carbon, and over a hundred miles away, her son James Allison was killed in action while serving with the 48th Pennsylvania at Cold Harbor.
James Allison would be the fourth son Agnes Allison lost in the Civil War. . . . .
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The small
community of Port Carbon, situated along the Schuylkill River Pottsville Pennsylvania Schuylkill Canal Schuylkill County Schuylkill
County Union blue from 1861-1865.
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| Port Carbon Soldiers' Monument (from http://www.kreilickconservation.com) |
To honor the
services of these men, Port Carbon, in 1904, erected a tall soldiers’ monument
on the summit of Goat Hill, a high eminence that rises above the town. Consisting
of a twenty-two-foot zinc pedestal with a bronze, six foot bronze statue of a
soldier on top, standing at parade rest, this soldiers’ monument is quite typical
of those one can still find standing in hundreds of small towns across the
nation, in both the North and the South.
But in Port
Carbon there stands another Civil War memorial, one not so typical. Though more
modest and much smaller in size, this memorial stands in the Presbyterian
Church Cemetery over the grave of Agnes Allison. Known locally as the Mother
Allison Memorial, this monument was placed there not to pay tribute to soldiers,
but to honor the sacrifice of Agnes Allison, an immigrant from Scotland
Born in 1807,
Agnes was twenty-one-years-old when she married Andrew Allison in Aragask , Scotland Scotland Schuylkill Canal
Twenty-six-year-old
Alexander Allison and his older brother James were first to march off to war,
as members of two local militia companies that had been raised in response to
President Lincoln’s April 15, 1861, call for 75,000 men to serve a ninety-day
enlistment. Witnessing no action during this three-month stint, both Alexander
and James reenlisted in the summer of 1861, signing up this time to serve for
“three years, or the course of the war,” whichever came first. James Allison
now entered the ranks of Company M, 1st Pennsylvania Cavalry, while
Alexander enlisted as the First Sergeant in Company C, 96th
Pennsylvania Infantry. He was joined in the 96th by his brother
John, who at age twenty-one, was the youngest of the four Allison boys to serve.
The oldest was George Allison who enlisted in February 1862 as a thirty-two-year-old
private in Company K, 56th Pennsylvania
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| The 96th Pennsylvania Infantry Recruited largely from Schuylkill County Alexander and John Allison Served in the 96th PA (from the Library of Congress) |
The first of the
Allison brothers to fall were John and Alexander, who were both struck down on
May 3, 1863, during the Battle of Salem Church. The two had served side-by-side
in the 96th since the summer of 1861 and had survived the worst the
war threw at them during the Seven Days’ Battles and at Crampton’s Gaps, where
the 96th suffered particularly heavy losses. Alexander Allison was
among the wounded at Crampton’s Gap but he had recovered in time to rejoin the
regiment for the spring 1863 Chancellorsville campaign. On May 1, 1863,
Alexander was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant; his younger brother John,
by this time, had worked his way up to corporal. Just two days after
Alexander’s promotion, the 96th was again called into action, and
again the regiment suffered heavily. Emerging from a woodlot just south of
Salem Church, the 96th came under a galling fire from the Alabamians
of Cadmus Wilcox’s brigade, sparking a bitter stand-up fight between the two
sides. “Volley after volley was fired,” remembered Captain Jacob Haas of the 96th,
but the regiment “could not break the rebel position.” Haas remembered seeing
the newly-minted Lieutenant Allison repeatedly ordering his men to load and
fire, before a bullet slammed into his right side, dropping him to the ground.
In the chaos of this battle, Alexander’s younger brother John was also struck
down. Noted Haas, “It’s not known whether John Allison was killed before Alex
was wounded. But during this heavy fire fight with minnie balls flying in every
direction, John was dropped and instantly killed. . . .”
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| Salem Church (from nps.gov) |
Alexander
Allison was carried from the field and taken to a hospital at nearby Aquia
Creek where he drew his last breath two days later, on May 5, his heart heavy
knowing by this time that his younger brother had been killed. It must have
been a profound blow for Agnes Allison later that month when word arrived in
Port Carbon that two of her sons were now dead. The Miners’ Journal, the leading newspaper of Schuylkill County, took
notice of their death, writing that “The death of Lieutenant Allison and his
brother is deeply regretted. Their kind dispositions and fine soldiering
qualities made many warm friends who mourn their loss.” The editors of the Miners’ Journal also noted that Agnes
Allison still had two sons in the service, although at this time, one of
them—James Allison—was just then back at home, recovering from what was a
grievous injury.
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| The Grave of Lt. Alexander Allison Fredericksburg National Cemetery (Brother John is most likely buried as an 'unknown' in the same cemetery) (from findagrave.com) |
While Alexander
and John Allison had joined the 96th and older brother George served
in the 56th Pennsylvania, James Allison enlisted instead in the
mounted arm, serving as a private in the 1st Pennsylvania Cavalry. On
January 15, 1863, however, James was discharged from the regiment. He had been
thrown hard against the pommel of his horse’s saddle, resulting in an injury
that required him to use catheters for the next four months. James was thus
recovering at home when word of Alexander’s and John’s deaths arrived. Still,
their deaths did not deter James from reentering the service. In late February
1864, while the 48th Pennsylvania Infantry was home in Schuylkill
County on veteran’s furlough, James, a pre-war boatman on the Schuylkill Canal,
signed up once more to fight, this time as a private in Company G of the
hard-fighting 48th.
With its ranks
replenished, the soldiers of the 48th Pennsylvania Infantry once
more departed their Schuylkill County homes in late March 1864, with orders to
proceed to Annapolis where their fellow regiments of the 9th Army
Corps were just then rendezvousing. Again, for the third time, James Allison
was leaving home, no doubt leaving his mother behind with tears filling her
eyes. Heavy combat lay ahead for the 48th at the Wilderness in early
May but especially a week later at Spotsylvania where, on May 12, the regiment
lost 26 men killed or mortally wounded, 92 men wounded, and 11 more missing in
action. The price paid by the 48th that bloody Thursday at
Spotsylvania was high, but James Allison emerged from this slaughter unscathed.
The same could
not be said, however, for James’s older brother George, serving in the ranks of
the 56th Pennsylvania. Even as James Allison and the men of 48th
were attacking Harry Heth’s Confederate division on the Confederate right,
George Allison and the 56th Pennsylvania were charging General Charles
Field’s Confederate division well-positioned atop Laurel Hill on the opposite end
of the line. It was a forlorn effort and the slopes of Laurel Hill were soon awash
in a sea of blue and red. The 56th formed part of Edward Fowler’s
brigade of Lysander Cutler’s Fifth Corps division. Cutler led his division
forward, with two brigades up front, followed by two, including Fowler’s, in
support. And while casualties were particularly heavy in the front line, those
in the back suffered as well. Confederate general Charles Field acknowledged
the bravery of the Federals in this attack, stating that their effort was a
“determined” one, but, as he was quick to point out, they were “repulsed with
great slaughter.” Thirty-three-year-old George Allison, who, like his brother
James, was a boatman before the war laboring along the Schuylkill Canal, was
shot down and mortally wounded that day. He clung desperately to life for the
next eleven days before passing away on May 23.
The remains of
George Allison were brought back to Port Carbon for interment. A grief-stricken
Agnes Allison buried her oldest son in the graveyard of the Presbyterian Church
on June 3. Three of her sons were now gone, leaving only James still in
uniform. And even as she buried George, Agnes’s thoughts were no doubt turned
to James, fighting in some far off field, over a hundred miles away from home.
But what she could not then know—and as if the story of Agnes Allison and her
sons were not tragic enough—on June 3, on the very same day George Allison was being
laid to rest in Port Carbon and even as Agnes was returning home from the
funeral, James Allison was drawing his last breath.
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| Private James Allison Company G, 48th PA |
Having survived
the storm at Spotsylvania, James Allison and the men of the 48th
Pennsylvania next found themselves heavily engaged at the Battle of Cold
Harbor. It was during this fight on June 3 that James Allison received a mortal
wound, dying just a few hours after being struck down.
The remains of
James Allison were later buried in the Richmond National Cemetery; those of
Alexander were interred at the Fredericksburg National Cemetery. Confederate
soldiers buried the body of John Allison somewhere near Salem Church, though it
is likely he was later exhumed and buried as an “Unknown” in the same cemetery
as his older brother Alexander. Only the body of George Allison returned home
to Port Carbon for burial.
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| The Grave of James Allison, 48th PA Richmond National Cemetery (from findagrave.com) |
It is impossible
to imagine the anguish and devastation felt by Agnes Allison, having lost four
of her sons in the Civil War. Their deaths left a void in her life and in her
heart as she did her best to continue to provide a home and bring up her two
remaining sons, Andrew and David.
Peace finally
came to Agnes Allison on April 3, 1887, when she passed away at the age of 80. Her
remains were buried next to her son George, already twenty-three years in the
grave.
Agnes Allison
may have taken some consolation after the war in knowing that the veterans of
the local Port Carbon chapter of the Grand Army of the Republic honored the
Allison brothers by naming their post after them. Indeed, it was this Allison
Brothers Post of the G.A.R. that led the effort to have the soldiers’ monument
placed atop Goat Hill in 1904. And it was this same post that three years later
led the effort to place a memorial on the grave of Agnes Allison, to pay
tribute to her and her great sacrifice.
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| The Mother Allison Memorial in the Presbyterian Cemetery Port Carbon, Pennsylvania Agnes and her son George are buried here. . . |
1 comment:
Excellent post. According to imdb.com, the idea for "Saving Private Ryan" first came to a film writer in 1994 when he saw the Allison memorial in Port Carbon.
Will
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