Getting To Know. . .General George Lucas Hartsuff

The illnesses and injuries that plagued George Lucas Hartsuff throughout his years in the United States Army cut short a promising career and led to his untimely death at the age of 43 in 1874. Solid and dependable, Hartsuff was a courageous officer who entered the war a lieutenant serving as the assistant adjutant general for the Department of the Ohio and then as the Chief of Staff to General William Rosecrans in western Virginia. By war’s end, Hartsuff was a major general, commanding all the Union forces on Bermuda Hundred. But Hartsuff’s true potential as a general was never realized due to the sicknesses he developed, and the wounds he suffered fighting the Seminole in Florida and his fellow Americans at the battle of Antietam.

George Hartsuff spent the first twelve years of his life in the small western New York village of Tyre, in Seneca County. Moving with his family to Livingston County, Michigan, in 1842, Hartsuff received an appointment to West Point six years later, graduating in 1852 ranked nineteenth in a class of forty-three. Upon graduation, Hartsuff was commissioned a second lieutenant by brevet in the 4th U.S. Artillery and assigned to frontier duty in Texas where the young officer fell seriously ill with yellow fever. In 1855, after recovering from his sickness, Hartsuff was sent to Fort Myers, Florida. Given command of a surveying expedition in December of that year, Hartsuff led ten soldiers into Seminole Territory near the Big Cypress Swamp. Having resolved not to tolerate any more incursions into their land, the Seminoles, under Chief Billy Bowlegs, decided to strike the American troops. On the morning of December 20, some forty Seminole warriors surrounded and then attacked Hartsuff’s men. During the short but bloody encounter, four U.S. soldiers were killed and three were wounded, while only three escaped unscathed. Hartsuff was among the wounded. Hit in the left arm, Lieutenant Hartsuff nevertheless continued to fire back at the Seminoles using muskets loaded and passed forward by two of his men. When a second shot struck Hartsuff in the chest, he told the surviving members of his party to save themselves and then sought shelter. Stumbling through the forest, Hartsuff fell into a pond. Neck-deep in water and suffering from his two wounds, Hartsuff had a difficult time getting out but was eventually able to do so. Without food or fresh water, Hartsuff lay on his back for three days before being rescued by American troops sent out from Fort Myers. Doctors cared for Hartsuff but were unable to remove the bullet that entered his left breast and struck his lung; indeed, it would remain in Hartsuff for the rest of his life. The attack on Hartsuff’s invading men is recognized today as the beginning of the Third Seminole War, which lasted for another two and a half years.

Having sufficiently recovered from his wounds, George Hartsuff, by this time a first lieutenant, was appointed as an instructor of artillery and infantry tactics at West Point in 1856, and held this position for three years. Hartsuff’s next assignment was to the frontier post of Fort Mackinac, Michigan. With misfortune seemingly his lot, Hartsuff was on board the Lady Elgin on the storm-tossed night of September 8, 1860, as the steamer made its way across Lake Michigan traveling between Chicago and Milwaukee. With visibility poor and the waters rough and restless, the Lady Elgin was struck by the schooner Augusta. 373 passengers of the Lady Elgin were lost as the boat sank. Lieutenant Hartsuff was one of the 155 survivors.

In early 1861, George Hartsuff was sent to Florida, where in the tense days preceding the outbreak of civil war, he served as assistant adjutant general for the Department of Florida. Stationed in Fort Pickens until July 21, 1861, Hartsuff was next assigned to the Department of Ohio where he served as assistant adjutant general. Throughout the first summer of the war, Hartsuff served in the mountains of [West] Virginia, and on August 3 became General William Rosecrans’s Chief of Staff. Promoted to the rank of captain in October 1861, Hartsuff got his first field command of the war in April 1862 after advancing in rank to brigadier general of volunteers. Commanding a brigade in Irvin McDowell’s Corps in the Shenandoah Valley in the spring and summer of 1862, Hartsuff led his men at the battle of Cedar Mountain but was on sick leave during the Second Bull Run Campaign.

When George McClellan took command of the Union forces in Washington following the debacle at Second Bull Run, he relieved McDowell and designated his command the First Corps, Army of the Potomac. On the afternoon of September 16, McClellan ordered the First Corps, now under Joe Hooker, across the Antietam Creek and into position opposite the left flank of the Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. Hartsuff’s Brigade—consisting of the 11th Pennsylvania, 83rd New York, and 12th and 13th Massachusetts—formed in advance of General James Ricketts’s Division early the next morning and advanced southward along the Smoketown Road toward Lee’s lines. Ricketts’s First Brigade, under the dashing New Yorker Abram Duryea, formed on Hartsuff’s right. As the sun was rising to the east, Duryea’s men became engaged with Confederate troops under Alexander Lawton in farmer Miller’s Cornfield. The fighting was savage, and Duryea found his brigade alone and unsupported by Hartsuff’s men to his left. Early in the advance, as his men cleared the North Woods, Hartsuff fell seriously wounded, and his brigade came to a halt in the resulting confusion of handing over command to Colonel Richard Coulter of the 11th Pennsylvania. Coulter was ultimately able to move the brigade toward the front, where they suffered terrible loss in and around the Cornfield and East Woods. By day’s end, Hartsuff’s Brigade had been reduced by half, losing some 600 men killed, wounded, and missing, out of the 1,200 that entered the battle.

Reports vary as to whether Hartsuff was felled by a sniper’s bullet or shell fragment. Regardless of its origin, however, the wound was to Hartsuff’s left hip. He tried to remain in the saddle, but he soon grew faint and had to be helped off his mount. Carried off the field, Hartsuff was taken to a nearby home where a doctor examined his wound. All efforts by him and other doctors later in the day to locate a bullet were unsuccessful; they surmised that the bullet had come to a stop deep within the pelvic cavity.

Hartsuff’s Antietam wound took eight months to heal. Indeed, he was unable to even walk until February 1863, and only then with the support of a cane. For his gallantry during the battle, however, Hartsuff was brevetted colonel in the Regular Army and on November 29, 1862, was promoted to the rank of major general of volunteers. Having sufficiently recovered to return again to the field in May 1863, Hartsuff was placed in command of the 23rd Corps in the Army of the Ohio. He served with his new command under General Ambrose Burnside in Kentucky and eastern Tennessee, but by the late summer of 1863, his health was failing him once more. His hip wound reopened, and he suffered from severe pain and numbness in his left leg and hip. Unable to ride any further, Hartsuff relinquished his command in November 1863 and sought out medical treatment.

Suffering not only from his wounds but from rheumatism as well, Hartsuff nonetheless returned to duty in July 1864, but was physically unable at this point to take active field command. He thus served on court-martial duty and behind a desk in the adjutant general’s office until March 1865, when he reported to General Ulysses Grant for assignment. Grant first gave Hartsuff divisional command in the 18th Corps, Army of the James, and then named him commander of all the Union troops then stationed on Bermuda Hundred. Following the surrender of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia the next month, Hartsuff, having previously been brevetted a brigadier and major general in the Regular Army, went on to head the District of Nottoway, in the Department of Virginia, a post he held until August 1865.

George Hartsuff remained in the army following the Civil War. At the rank of lieutenant-colonel, he served first in the adjutant general’s office in Washington and then held a number of offices in the Fifth Military District and in the Department of the Gulf. In poor health and in terrible pain, Hartsuff tendered his resignation from the army on June 29, 1871. Although still holding the rank of lieutenant-colonel, the army allowed Hartsuff to retire at the rank of major general because of the wounds he had suffered while in service.

The ailing General Hartsuff moved to New York City after his retirement, and there spent the final few years of his life. Early in May 1874, he developed a cold that quickly developed into pneumonia. He was dead just one week later, passing away on May 16, two weeks shy of his forty-fourth birthday. His remains were taken to West Point for burial. An autopsy revealed that Hartsuff’s pneumonia was caused by the infection on a scar on his left lung. The scar was itself caused by the wound he received nineteen years earlier battling Seminoles in the swamps of Florida. Remarkably, neither this bullet nor the one that entered his hip at Antietam were ever located.

General Hartsuff's Final Resting Place. . .

(www.findagrave.com)

Soldiers of the 48th: Captain Daniel B. Kaufmann

Daniel B. Kaufmann was among the ten officers chosen by Colonel James Nagle in the summer of 1861 to help recruit volunteers to serve in what would become the 48th Pennsylvania Infantry. A resident of Port Clinton, Kaufmann had served under Nagle during the first three months of the war, as captain of the Port Clinton Artillery in Nagle's 6th PA Infantry. When the call thus went out again for volunteers, this time to serve for three years, Kaufmann had little difficulty in getting his artillerists (converted to infantry) to re-enlist. Additional recruits came from the townships of southern Schuylkill County, near the Berks County line, as well as Tamaqua. Most of his volunteers were canal laborers or boatman on the Schuylkill Canal; Kaufmann was himself a dispatcher. Mustered into service of Company A, 48th PA, on September 17, 1861, Kaufmann was then 29 years old, stood 5'9" in height, had a dark complexion, gray eyes, and black hair.

Captain Kaufmann faithfully led his company throughout the war's first three years, emerging unhurt from the various campaigns and battles. Then, on August 1, 1864, Captain Kaufmann was dismissed from service.

I cannot recall the circumstances that led to Kaufmann's dismissal, though I do know that that information is available at the Pennsylvania State Archives. I am thinking it may have had something to do with the fiasco at the Crater, since his dismissal came just two days after the explosion of the mine. I am not sure, however, so when next in Harrisburg, I will be sure to look it up.

Soldiers of the 48th: Captain Francis A. Stitzer, Co. K, 48th PA

Francis A. Stitzer, a native of the small town of Cressona in southern Schuylkill County, was twenty years old in the spring of 1861. On April 17, he was painting a minister's home in Pottsville, when word spread through the borough that its two militia companies--the National Light Infantry and Washington Artillery--would be setting off for Harrisburg the following morning. As a member of the Washington Artillery, Stitzer dropped his brush--leaving his job unifinished--traveled back home and early the next morning, boarded the train cars and headed off to the "seat of war."

Arriving in Washington late on April 18, Stitzer was among the first Northern volunteers to reach the capital following President Lincoln's April 15 call-to-arms. The Washington Artillerists were assigned to quarters in the Capitol, and he remembered that he and his comrades "set up barricades. . .using barrels of flour, and behind them we awaited our new rifles." The rifles arrived late that night and the following day, Lincoln himself arrived, along with Secretary of State William Seward, who each shook hands with every one of the 575 or so Pennsylvanians who comprised the First Defenders' companies.

After an uneventful three-months in uniform, Stitzer was mustered out only to reenlist as 1st Sergeant of Company K, 48th Pennsylvania. Mustered into service again on October 21, Stitzer rose through the ranks, eventually reaching the rank of captain, and emerging from the war largely unscathed.

After the war, Stitzer was active in the Pennsylvania National Guard before settling in Cheyenne, Wyoming, in 1887. He was named the state's first adjutant general four years later and from 1912 through 1916, served two terms as mayor of Laramie. The aging Stitzer then relocated to Florida where he became a newspaper publisher.

In 1938, the ninety-eight-year-old veteran attended the ceremonies commemorating the 75th Anniversary of the battle of Gettysburg and, while in Pennsylvania, made a visit to Pottsville where he was serenaded by the fife and drum band.

Stitzer was the last surviving member of the five First Defender companies and wanted to make it to the century mark. In August 1939, he wrote to William A. Reid, secretary of the 48th Regiment Survivor's Association, and son of former Company G sergeant and Medal of Honor recipient Robert A. Reid. "I have entered my one hundreth year," said Stitzer, "but have neither ache nor pain. Friends tell me I must reach the 100th mark and beat Father Time to the century."

But Stitzer did not live to celebrate his 100th birthday; he died on October 16, 1939 at his daughter's home in Denver, Colorado. Following his death, only one other member of the 48th Pennsylvania yet lived. . .Charles Washington Horn, Company I, who died in Bethelehem, PA, in 1941.

Post-War Image of Francis A. Stitzer

A Walk Through York's Prospect Hill Cemetery

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Basket business found me in dowtown York this snowy morning. My wife, Laura, is participating in a Food & Beverage show this weekend and I figured I would help her set up. The arena opened to vendors at noon, but I headed off to York early so I could spend some time tramping around the city's famed Prospect Hill Cemetery. At over 325 acres and more than 90,000 burials, Prospect Hill is an enormous "city of the dead." And being wholly fascinated by cemeteries of all shapes and sizes, I braved the elements--it was frigidly cold with snow flurries--and snapped well over 100 pictures of this truly impressive, yet at times eerie graveyard.

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Upon entering the cemetery through the main gates, one is met by a vast sea of American flags, each one representing a soldier killed in either Iraq. . .

. . .or Afghanistan.

Lining George Street, which runs parallel to Prospect Hill, are several banners paying tribute to those soldiers from York and its environs who have paid their last full measure of devotion while fighting for our nation and defending our freedoms.

Breathtaking.

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Up the hill and just several hundred yards from the main gates is this statue to a Civil War soldier, which was erected in honor and "In Memory of the Defenders of the Union: 1861-1865." Surrounding the soldier statue lie buried scores of fallen Union troops, many of them--in fact, most of them--buried here died while in the York General Hospital from wounds received at Gettysburg.

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There are hundreds of Civil War veterans buried throughout Prospect Hill's 325+ acres, including John Henry Denig, recipient of the Medal of Honor for gallantry at the battle of Mobile in August 1864. . .

and many more.

But perhaps Prospect Hill's most famous Civil War burial is Major General William Buel Franklin. Franklin, a premier civil engineer whose Civil War service left much to be desired (especially at the battle of South Mountain on September 14, 1862), died in March 1903. He was one of the longest living, high-ranking Federal officers of the war.

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Prospect Hill contains burials dating to the late 18th Century. . .

. . .and there are buried within the cemetery gates, veterans from all of America's wars.

Including the Revolution. . .

. . .and the War of 1812.

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Prospect Hill is even the final resting place of one of this nation's Founding Fathers: Philip Livingston, who signed the Declaration of Independence.

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The statuary and tombstones of Prospect Hill are incredible. . .

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View from atop Prospect Hill, looking over the city of York. . .

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Letters Home: George Gowen Wants Out. . .

While doing a bit of organizing this evening, I came across an interesting letter penned by George W. Gowen in early October 1862, just a few weeks after Antietam. At the time of this letter, Gowen, a civil mining engineer before the war, was serving as a lieutenant in Company C. He would soon be promoted to captain, and near the end of the war was the commanding officer of the 48th Pennsylvania. On April 2, 1865, one week before Lee's surrender at Appomattox, Gowen was struck in the face by a Confederate shell and killed instantly during the Army of the Potomac's final assaults on Petersburg. Gowen's body was taken to his native Germantown, Pennsylvania, for burial. It is interesting to note that one of George Washington Gowen's brothers was none other than Benjamin Franklin Gowen, the lead prosecuting attorney of the Molly Maguires.

Gowen led a fascinating life, and established a stellar wartime service record and in future posts I will focus more on Gowen's life and career(s). But for now, here is the contents of the early October, post-Antietam letter, in which he does not have too kind words for his fellow soldiers in the 48th Pennsylvania.

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Camp Near Anteitam Creek, Md

October 2nd 1862

Dear John!

I have been intending to write to you every day for a week, but ever since we have been in Camp, I have felt so miserably that I could not get up energy enough to do it. The lime stone water of this region does not agree with the troops and there is a great deal of sickness in Camp. The greater portion of the Army is on this side of the Potomac, yet I do not think it will be very long before a general move across the river will be made.

I passed through the late engagements at South Mountain and Antietam Creek safely--at the latter place our Division carried the stone bridge. Genl. Sturgis is our Division sommander now. We lost Jesse Reno at South Mountain--he was a gallant officer. Wherever the fray was thickest there was Reno to be found. He was always with us on the battle field. The soldiers became very much attached to him. When he fell he was just in rear of our Regiment. I am getting along pretty well, and expect to be made a Captain within a short time. Yet I often feel that I could be situated more pleasantly and have regretted a thousand times that I did not get a position in the Regular Army a year ago. You cannot imagine the difference between the two branches of the service--the four months I spent with Co "C" 1st [U.S.] Artillery were by far the pleasantest of the campaign--there are two or three very fine fellows in my Regiment, but when that is said, all is said. A position on a Staff is my ambition, as it is of most young officers. I notice by the papers that General Cadwalader has been made a Major General and is at present a member of the Court Martial about to convene at Washington. He has not yet been given a command--do you think there could be any prospect of my getting a position on his Staff? . . .

With much love to all

I remain your Affectionate Brother

George

The 48th On Election Day 1864

On November 8, 1864, while in the trenches of Petersburg, the veterans of the 48th Pennsylvania Infantry cast their votes for President of the United States.

The result, at least as far as the regiment was concerned, was easy to project.

When the vote was tallied, 200 soldiers cast their ballot for the incumbent president, Abraham Lincoln, or 87% of those who voted. George McClellan received 30 votes from the ranks of the 48th PA. That year, Abraham Lincoln received nearly 80% of the total soldiers' vote.

Interetingly, in Schuylkill County, where most of the 48th PA was recruited, Lincoln received 7,166 votes as compared to McClellan's 9,244.

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Tuesday, November 4, is Election Day. . .

VOTE!