In the following biographical sketches, the ages of the men are given as of date of enlistment. The military ranks are the highest that each man held in the course of the war.

 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

 

I wish to thank Col. Richard Snyder, Deputy Adjutant General of Pennsylvania's Department of Military Affairs, for photocopies of unpublished military records in his office which proved indis­pensable in identifying members of the original company.

I am grateful for records and facilities provided by the National Archives and Records Service, Washington, D. C., and particularly so for the help of the following officials: Forest L. Williams and Edward J. Reese of the Navy and Military Service Branch; Victor Gondos, Jr., and Elmer O. Parker of the Army and Air Corps Branch.

I acknowledge my indebtedness to Elbert Chance, Alumni and Public Relations, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware, for biographical information on Col. McNeil; and to Marjory L. Jones, Director of Alumni Records, Yale University, New Haven, Connecti­cut, for a biography of Col. McNeil taken from the Yale Class of 1852 Ninth Reunion Class Book, and other useful material.

I thank Mrs. Charles A. Morrison, archivist of the Venango County Historical Society, Franklin, Pennsylvania, for much research assistance, including revelations of the unique career of William Henry Harrison Shawl.

Helpful sketches of Allegheny river craft were provided by T. K. Stratton of Warren, Pennsylvania. Copies of a personal letterhead embodying the reproduction of a mural of Warren's waterfront, c. 1852, were generously supplied by Harold C. Putnam of Warren.

I appreciate the efforts of Mrs. Alan King of Montreal and Mrs. George Rogers, Jr., of Charlottetown, P.E.L, Canada, to identify the Canadian member of the Raftsmen's Guard.

I am deeply grateful to the Reverend G. Hall Todd of Phila­delphia for unpublished information and valuable insights concerning the Hall family.

I must also thank Franklin M. Kreml, vice-president for plan­ning and development, Northwestern University, for encouragement and assistance extended to me while I was a member of his staff. Lastly, I acknowledge the very substantial help I have received on this and related projects from the library staff of the Transportation Center at Northwestern.

 

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WILLIAIM D. ABBOTT

Died of typhoid fever at Alexandria, V a., June 15, 1862. Abbott, 25, was a lumberman and raftsman from Van Buren, Mich. He was de­tailed as a cool; in July 1861. According to hospital records. "lie left in effects: 1 pair boots, 1 cap."

 

ELIJAH AKIN (Cpl.)

Wounded in the right wrist at Mechanicsville, June 26/27, 1862.

Akin, 38, was a lumberman and raftsman from South Valley,

Cattaraugus Co., N. Y., and the second oldest member of the Rafts­men's Guard. He was discharged an account of his wound, Sept. 22, 1862, but later enlisted in Co. A, 188th New York Infantry. He participated in the Weldon Raid, Feb. 27, 1865, and suffered from

exposure which he later felt was the cause of a chronic case of rheumatism. After the war he settled down to farming at Onoville,  N. Y., on the Allegheny river. On Jan. 1, 1892, three years before his death, he appealed to the U.S. Pension Office: "I was not excelled in this part of the country for every kind of hard labor and iron constitution and commanded the largest wages among lumbermen . . . .and now I can not earn my bread."

 

HENRY C. BARBER

Deserted. Barber, 18, was described as a laborer. He was born at Steam Mill, Pa., and resided as a youth in Southwest Tp. He enlisted at Tidioute where, presumably, he was working at an oil well. Barber was detailed as a teamster in February 1862, and listed as "sick in hospital at Alexandria" in March-April 1862. During this period he vanished.

 

ADELBERT M. CHAPEL

Killed at New Market Cross Roads, or possibly Willis Church, June 30, 1862. Chapel, 19, was a blacksmith. He was the eldest son of William Chapel, cabinet maker, of Youngsville. His mother, Eliza Shipman, was married Dec. 24, 1840, gave birth to her only child, Sept. 12, 1841, and died one month later. During early camp life the soldier wrote home asking to be sent bucktails which he would be able to sell to his regimental buddies at three or four shillings apiece.

 

DAVID HENRY CLANCY

Killed at New Market Cross Roads, June 30, 1862. Clancy, 24, was

 

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an engineer from Churchville, Monroe Co., N. Y. He had worked at Olean, N. Y., before the war. Clancy, whose personal description included "sandy complexion, auburn hair," narrowly missed being rejected for military service at Harrisburg. On the record of the Surgeon's examination the phrase "varicose veins of the left leg" appears opposite his name but is crossed out. He tented with Horigan.

 

WILLIAM H. CLARK

Served full term of enlistment without serious injury. Clark, 25, was a lumberman and raftsman from Warren County. In June 1864 he re­enlisted in Co. K, 12th Pennsylvania Cavalry (113th Regt. Pa. Vols. ). This was a unit partly composed of Warren County men recruited by Darius Titus, originally in November 1861. Clark's postwar resi­dences included Jamestown, N. Y., and Bradford, Pa. He died May 9, 1901.

 

ELEAZER A. CLOUGH

Discharged on Surgeon's certificate, March 15, 1862. Clough (pro­nounced "Glow"), 32, was a shoemaker from Columbus, Pa. He at­tended a Bucktail regimental reunion in 1888 and was residing in Corry, Pa., the following year.

 

MYRON C. COBB

Killed at Antietam, Sept. 17, 1862. Cobb, 22, was a lumberman and raftsman, son of Ira Cobb, a farmer of Spring Creek, originally from Vermont. When this soldier died his fifteen-year-old brother, Zachariah, enlisted in the Union Army and was subsequently killed at Spottsylvania Court House.

 

CORDELLO COLLINS

Wounded at Gettysburg, July 3, 1863 ; died August 8. Collins, 21, was a blacksmith and eldest son of a Kinzua blacksmith. He was one of the best marksmen in his regiment.*

 

FRANCIS COUGHLIN

Wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862, subsequently assigned to the Invalid Corps (Co. B, 1st Veteran Reserve Corps). Coughlin, 30, was a moulder from Rochester, N. Y., who was evidently working in

 

 

*See Mark Reinsberg, "A Bucktail Voice: Civil War Correspondence of Pvt.

 

 

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the lumber woods near Warren in Spring 1861. Regimental records list him "absent at muster out," which could mean virtually anything.

 

 

WILLIAM H DAVIS

Mustered out with the Bucktails, June 1l, 1864. Davis, 21, was a farmer ; son of W. C. Davis of Columbus. He served as a teamster.

 

ANDREW JACKSON DEMING (1St Sgt.)

Wounded in the right arm at Mechanicsville, June 26, 1862. Deming, 27, was a raftsman ; son of Josiah Deming, gunsmith, lumberman, hotel proprietor of Spring Creels. Captured at Mechanicsville.* At the expiration of his three-year enlistment Deming re-enlisted in the

190th Pa. (Veteran) Vols. With most of his regiment he was captured at Weldon railroad, Aug. 19, 1864, and barely survived Libby Prison from which he was liberated on March 4, 1865. Afterwards Deming returned to Warren Co. and farmed a twenty-one acre farm in Spring

Creek. Late in life he moved to Corry, Erie Co., Pa. He died there Dec. 20, 1909.

 

JAMES DEVIRS (Cpl.)

Wounded in three battles: New Market Cross Roads, June 30, 1862 ; Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862 ; and twice at Gettysburg, July 2/3, 1863. Devirs, born in Port Clinton, Pa., was about 22 when he en­listed, and a resident of H. Morrison's tavern in Warren. Occupation laborer and raftsman. Captured in the Seven Days' Battles. Devirs was mustered out with the Bucktails, June 11, 1864. After the war he was employed as a stationary engineer in the Tidioute oil field and a loco­motive engineer at Jamestown, N. Y. Late in life he moved to Knox­ville, Tenn. Died in 1911. (Incorrectly listed as "Devins" in Bates.)

 

THEOPHILUS DEVOGE

Wounded in the left thigh at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862. Devoge, 29, was a raftsman and lumberman, born in Randolph Tp., Crawford Co., Pa. He enlisted from Columbus, mustered out with his regiment June 11, 1864. After the war he farmed and worked in the lumber woods of Elk Co., Pa. Died August 20, 1913, at the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. (Incorrectly listed as "Devough" in Bates.)

 

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JOSEPH W. DUNTON

Discharged on Surgeon's certificate, infection of the eyes, July 21, 1861. Dunton, 20, was a farmer from Avoca, N. Y., employed near Columbus at time of enlistment. Thomson-Rauch does not list this man. Bates gives his date of muster into service as Aug. 14, 1861. Apparently, after Dunton's medical discharge, he re-enlisted on that date in the Raftsmen's Guard (by then Co. D, lst Rifles) and was again medically discharged, Sept. 19, 1861.

 

STEPHEN B. DUNTON

Discharged on Surgeon's certificate, "consumptive tendency with general debility," Aug. 5, 1861. Dunton, 24, was a farmer and wagon maker from Avoca, N. Y., who enlisted in Columbus. The 1860 Census of Warren Co. finds him in the borough of Columbus working as a cleric and living in the household of Henry Saggs, merchant. Thomson­Rauch, confusing his service record with that of Joseph W. Dunton, musters him into the Raftsmen's Guard Aug. 14, 1861 ; Bates omits Stephen B. Dunton. This man who was unfit for soldiering lived to a great old age in Penn Yan, N. Y., probably outliving every other Raftsman. He died in 1934, only three years short of his hundredth birthday.

 

HORACE W. ELLISON

Discharged on Surgeon's certificate, "disease of heart," Oct. 26, 1862. Ellison, 20, joined the Raftsmen's Guard at Franklin, Pa., where he ran an oil well engine. Originally he was from Mentor, Ohio. He re­enlisted in Sept. 1864, in Co. I, 6th Regt. Pa. Vols., and was mustered out June 13, 1865. After the war he labored in the coal mines for about ten years, then became a sewing machine agent, and afterwards a manufacturer of musical instruments. He died Nov. 19, 1912, in Eaton Rapids, Mich.

 

FRANCIS H. FREEMAN
Discharged on Surgeon's certificate. Sept. 17, 1861. Freeman, 24, was a blacksmith from Warren. He was elected 3rd Lt. of Co. D on July 6 but due to his early discharge the commission was not bestowed. Later, he enlisted as a private in Co. I, 14th Pa. Cavalry (known also as 159th Pa. Regt.), Oct. 27, 1862. Freeman was injured while shoe­ing the captain's horse. After the war he lived at Smethport, Pa.

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MICHAEL GANNON

Served full term of enlistment without serious injury. Gannon, 21, was a laborer at Tidioute when he enlisted. He was born in Ireland in the town of Ahaseragh, County Galway, and came to America with his father at the age of 15. Captured at Gaines' Mill, June 27, 1862. After the war Gannon married Anna Joynt of Corry, Pa. His resi­dences included Bradford. Pa.; Connersville, Ind.; and lastly Wash­ington, D. C., where he died in the Government Hospital for the insane in 1917, suffering from "mental disease incident to his age and near-total blindness."

 

NELSON GEER

Wounded in right cheek (ball coming out under the right ear) at Drainesville, Dec. 20, 1861. "Nelt" Geer, 18, was a raftsman and resi­dent of Elk Tp. at time of enlistment. Born in Kinzua, he grew to be nearly six feet tall and the possessor of a sturdy constitution, for he also survived a desperate wound at Antietam - a ball in the right breast which passed through the right lobe of his lungs and was taken out from under the right shoulder. As a result, Geer was discharged March 15, 1863, and returned to Warren. He later moved to Buffalo and Eau Claire Counties, Wis. Died Oct. 8, 1895, in Bridge Creek, Wis.

 

ABNER M. GORDON, JR.

Mustered out with the Bucktails, June 11, 1864. Gordon, 31, was a raftsman and blacksmith, son of a Columbus carpenter. He was born in Dixon, N. Y. In August 1861, the soldier was detailed as a teamster in the hospital department. After the war he returned to Columbus, later moved to Erie Co., Pa. He died at Corry, Pa., June 16, 1911.

 

RIBERO DESAN HALL* (15t Lt.)

Mustered out with the Bucktails, June 11, 1864. Ribero Hall, 21, was a raftsman of Warren, son of Orris Hall, one of the town's leading citizens. He enrolled as a private. Was promoted to 2nd Lt. after demonstrating his military aptitude at Drainesville, December 1861.Promoted to 1st Lt. on March 1, 1863. Hall was captured at Gaines' Mill, June 27, 1862, imprisoned at Libby Prison for 64 days before being exchanged. "Was released," he wrote after the war. "in time

 

*Three members of the Hall family enlisted in the Raftsmen's Guard Ribero DeSan Hall and Roscoe Hall were brothers. Robert Hall was a cousin.

 

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to take part in the battles of South Mountain and Antietam, and was an active participant in all the battles in which our famous Regt. took part during three years, except those fought while I was in prison." In the postwar years he migrated to the Utah Territory, then to Texas, where he died in 1924. There is a family tradition that while fighting in the Wheat Field at Gettysburg he saw his cousin shot down, recovered his cousin's pistol, and with it killed the enemy soldier responsible.

 

ROBERT HALL (2nd Lt.)

Killed at Gettysburg in the Wheat Field, July 3, 1863.* Robert Hall, 22, described himself as (oil) speculator and raftsman. He was an orphaned cousin of the brothers Ribero and Roscoe Hall. Born in Russell, son of Edson Hail, a brother of Orris and Chapin Hall, prominent Warren businessmen. When Edson died in 1843, his son Robert was five, and the uncles helped to rear the boy. Robert Hall en­listed in the Raftsmen's Guard as a private, became a Sgt., and on

March 1, 1863, a 2nd Lt. He was captured at Gaines' Mill, June 27, 1862, and imprisoned at Richmond. He personally buried Roscoe on the field of Second Bull Run, and was in turn buried by Ribero at Gettysburg.

 

ROSCOE A. HALL (Sgt.)

Killed at Second Bull Run. Aug. 30, 1862, while "charging the skirmishers of the enemy." Roscoe, 23, was Ribero's older brother. Before the war he had briefly been Roy Stone's partner in oil well drill­ing at Tidioute. He listed himself as a raftsman when he enlisted in the Raftsmen's Guard, but as the eldest son of one of Warren's wealthiest lumbermen had enjoyed many educational and cultural advantages. He was taken prisoner in the Seven Days' Battles with the other Halls, and paroled just in time to meet his fate on the battlefield. "His death," said the obituary in the Warren Mail, "has cast a gloom over the community in which he lived which can never be dispelled." After the war, Ribero named his first-born son Roscoe, and Roscoe's

mother, Eliza K. Hackney Hall, wrote a book entitled, The Glory of the Immortal Life.

 

 

*The Warren Ledger, July 15, 1863, p. Z, col. 2, eulogized Robert Hall as "a boy of unusual promise. Highly gifted in intellect, remarkably lively and vivacious, and possessing the most remarkable memory we ever encountered

.......... Thus, one by one, are going down to their death the brave boys whose deeds have become the pride of the nation, as well as of our own people. What gratitude, what honor, what affection, is not due, alike to those who survive and the memory of those who perish?"

 

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HAMBLIN-HAMLIN

Much confusion in records of the Raftsmen's Guard has arisen from the fact that by December 1861, four men by the name of Hamblin or Hamlin were members of the Company. Only three of these men were recruits who went down river with the original company. Both Bates and Thomson-Rauch must be totally ignored if the misidentifi­cations and misspellings are ever to be straightened out. The three re­cruits in Roy Stone's original company ( May 1861) were

Albert G. Hamblin

                    John Hamblin

Sylvester C. Hamlin

Recruited later (August 1861) at Warren was John F. Hamlin. A difficulty almost as serious as the similarity of names is the fact that two of the original recruits were rejected for military service, failing their physical examinations at the Camp Curtin reception center in Harrisburg, Pa., on or about May 29, 1861. These were Albert G. Hamblin and Sylvester C. Hamlin. Later, in August 1861, both seen succeeded in re-enlisting in Co. D and both were shortly thereafter discharged on medical grounds.

 

ALBERT G. HAMBLIN

Rejected in his attempt to enlist in the original Raftsmen's Guard be­cause of "dislocation of right ankle." He tried again in August 1861, was accepted in Co. D, but discharged in December of the same year on medical grounds. A. G. Hamblin, 24, was a millwright and mechanic from Youngsville, probably the son of George Hamblin. This determined young man enlisted a third time in October 1862, in Co. I of the 14th Pa. Cavalry, and succeeded at last. He was, however, accidentally wounded in December 1863, near Huttonsville, W. Va., when his horse took fright and ran. Hamblin's carbine, hanging by his side, discharged, shooting his right foot. After the war he moved to Michigan, then North Carolina, finally Ashland, Wis., where he was the proprietor of an employment and loan office, and promoter of "Hamblin's Patent Heating Drum." He died in 1909.

 

JOHN HAMBLIN ( Sgt, )

Died in Libby prison, Richmond, June 25, 1864, of wounds received in action near Petersburg, June 13, 1864. Hamblin, 24, was a farmer, son of Isaac Hamblin of Brokenstraw Tp. Having survived his three­ year term of enlistment in the Bucktails, Hamblin re-enlisted in the

 

16

 

190th Pa. Vols. - Veteran, May 31, 1864. Two weeks later he was mortally wounded.

 

SYLVESTER C. HAMLIN

Failed to pass the physical examination for enrollment in Co. D at Camp Curtin, Harrisburg. However, this recruit was immediately afterwards accepted by Co. I of the Bucktail regiment. Hamlin, 32, was a carpenter from Kinzua, a near neighbor of Cordellp Collins' family. In August 1861, Hamlin succeeded in obtaining a transfer to Co. D. However, he was discharged on Surgeon's certificate, March 11, 1862, because of "Pthisis Pulmonalis, a predisposition to which ex­isted prior to enlistment."

 

DAVID C. HARRISON

Rejected by Surgeon because of a heart condition. Harrison, 25, was a painter and farmer from Oneida Co., N. Y., who was apparently residing in West Spring Creek at time of enlistment. In Nov. 1861, Harrison again enlisted, this time at Erie, Pa., in Capt. Brown's Company (later Co. A), 111th Regt. Pa. Inf. In Aug. 1862, he was captured at Frederick, Md., soon afterwards paroled. In Jan. 1863, Harrison was hospitalized with what was diagnosed as heart disease but returned to duty in March. He was sick intermittently and at one time was detached as a cattle guard in brigade headquarters. He re­enlisted in Dec. 1863, and saw the war through.

 

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN HASCALL (Sgt.)

Died, probably of typhoid, at Georgetown, D. C., Oct. 29, 1861. Hascall, 28, was a lumberman and raftsman from Cuba, N. Y. His birthplace was Amity, Erie Co., N. Y. When he was 16 his father, a Cuba physician, deserted his family. Young Hascall had helped sup­port the family with his earnings as a laborer, at one time working on the Genesee Valley Canal. According to an affidavit, "He wanted to go west but could not go and leave his dependent mother."

 

JOHN C. HATTON

Received a medical discharge ("scrofulous") in Aug. 1861. Hatton, 18, was a raftsman and clerk from Farmington Center. He re-enlisted on Sept. 2, 1864, in Co. G, 211th Pa. Inf. and was discharged on June 2, 1865. After the war he became a wagon maker in Russellburg, where he survived at least until 1906.

 

17

 

JOHN C. HENLAN

Rejected in Surgeon's examination. Henlan, 20, was a laborer from Crawford Co., Pa.

 

GEORGE W. HOACK

Rejected in Surgeon's examination. Hoack, 28, was an oil digger who had been working in Venango Co. He probably joined the Raftsmen's Guard when the boats passed by his well site along the Allegheny River.

 

FREELAND HOBART (HOLBERT?)

Died of an unspecified illness while a prisoner of war at Richmond, Jan. 6, 1864. Hobart, 24, was a raftsman working in `'Warren Co. but originally from Panama, N. Y., upon Little Broken Straw Creek. He was captured for the first time at Gaines' Mill, June 27, 1862, and confined at Richmond until paroled, Aug. 6. On Oct. 28, 1862, he transferred to the 6th U.S. Cavalry and at some later date was again captured by the Confederates.

 

EDMOND HORIGAN

Killed at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862. Horigan, 18, was an oil digger and raftsman from Jamestown, N. Y. He was born m Ireland. In 1860, Horigan was working for Henry Baxter of Mead Tp., a lumberman and neighbor of I. V. Stone, Roy Stone's father.

 

MARTIN S. HOSELY  (Sgt,

Discharged, probably on medical grounds, May 21, 1864. Hosely, 43, was the oldest and also one of the tallest (6'1Y2") of the Raftsmen's Guard. He was a lumberman, originally from Vermont, who resided in Mead Tp. at time of enlistment.

 

THOMAS K. HUMPHREYS

Mustered out with the Bucktails, June 11, 1864. Humphreys, 19, was a miner from Tarentum on the Allegheny river above Pittsburgh. When the Raftsmen's Guard came by, he enlisted. He was carried on the rolls as a musician. Humphreys was born at Braddocks Field, Pa. After the war he went west to Durango, Colo. He was one of the later survivors, dying June 4, 1925, in the National Military Home in Kansas.

 

18

 

JOHN T. A. JEWETT (Capt.)

Severely injured when a tree limb cut down by Confederate artillery in the woods near Gaines' Mill struck him on the head, about June 27, 1862. Jewett, 25, was a "practical watchmaker" and jeweler who had moved from Jamestown, N. Y., to Warren early in the summer of 1860. His birthplace was Williamsport, Pa. With Hugh McNeil, he was an active member of the Wide Awakes and the Young Men's Republican Club at Warren during Lincoln's Presidential campaign. Jewett was one of the original officers in Roy Stone's band of recruits, starting out as 2nd Lt. of the Raftsmen's Guard. When the unit arrived in Harrisburg he was promoted to 1st Lt. When McNeil, who had become Captain of Co. D, was elected Colonel of the Bucktail regi­

ment, Jewett was promoted, Feb. 5, 1862, to Captain of Co. D. His head injury in the Seven Days' Battles (bone over right eye broken, eyeball forced out of its socket) impaired his hearing as well as his vision. Suffering also from the after-effects of typhoid fever, Jewett resigned from the service Jan. 5, 1863, and returned to Jamestown. In later years he was proprietor of a jewelry shop in New York City. He died May 7, 1902, at Saugerties, N. Y.

 

CALVIN JOBES (JOBS?)

Discharged on Surgeon's certificate of disability, July 21, 1861, at New Creek, Va. Jobes, 21, was a raftsman and lumberman from Spring Creek. He was probably the son of the John Jobes (1794-1885) who served as a drummer in the war of 1812 and settled in Spring Creek in 1819. (Not listed in Thomson-Rauch or Bates.)

 

AMOS H. JOHNSON

Wounded at Fredericksburg, Va., April 1863, shell fragment in right leg. Johnson, 22, was a blacksmith from Spring Creek. Captured at Mechanicsville, June 27, 1862, he was held prisoner at Libby and Belle Isle prisons until October 1862. Johnson was mustered out with the Bucktails June 11, 1864. He went home to Sugar Grove and mar­ried Martha Stuart about a month later, remaining at Sugar Grove, on 90 square perches of land, until his death in 1893.

 

GEORGE D. (Q?) JUNKIN

Killed at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862. Junkin, 24, was a carpenter from Emlenton, Venango Co., who joined the Raftsmen when their boats paused at his Allegheny River town. He was captured at

 

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Mechanicsville, June 27, 1862. Junkin's name is listed on the Soldier's Monument in the city park at Franklin, Pa.

 

GRAHAM MADISON KENNEDY

Discharged on Surgeon's certificate ("disease of the heart"), Jan. 9, 1863. Kennedy, 18, was a farmer from Columbus Tp. He was captured in the Seven Days' Battles, June 1862. It was his opinion that his heart condition resulted from his exertions at Gettysburg. He died June 4, 1873, in Decatur, Ohio, of "gangrene of the lungs" at the age of 30. His wife, Esther Rebecca Harding, remarried and was widowed twice again.

 

WILLIAM J. KIBBEY (KIBBE?) (1St Sgt.)

Mortally wounded at South Mountain, Sept. 14, 1862. Kibbey, 34, was a carpenter residing in McKean Co., Pa., but originally from Kinzua. His name is crossed out on the Surgeon's examination list, with the marginal note, "P. over." However, after being rejected for duty in Co. D he was accepted by Co. I of the Bucktail regiment and was promoted to 1st Sgt. He died Sept. 18, 1862.

 

THOMAS H. KINCAID

Wounded in right leg at Second Bull Run, Aug. 30, 1862. Kincaid, 22, was a machinist and engineer from Jefferson Tp., Greene Co., Pa. He joined the Raftsmen's Guard at Franklin where he was probably employed at an Allegheny River oil well site. Kincaid was discharged on account of his wound on March 17, 1863. Later he was employed by a sutler in the 139th Pa. Vols. After the war he was a prospecting companion of J. H. Masters, in 1869, when Indians burned down their house in the Arizona Territory near the town of Wickenburg. Kincaid died in 1878, probably in Utah.

 

ROBERT A. KINNEAR

Mustered out with the Bucktail regiment, June 11, 1864. Kinnear, 21, was a raftsman and engineer from Youngsville. Was hospitalized in May 1862, and probably for some months thereafter, for "remittent fever." After the war Kinnear observed to a friend that "the war had used him up." He resided in Warren Co. and Pittsburgh after the war, employed in teaming and sharing in a planing mill and oil re­fining venture. He named his son Roscoe in memory of Roscoe Hall. Kinnear died at Youngsville's Fairmount House. April 14, 1895.

 

20

 

 

BYRON D. KNOWLTON

Wounded by shell fragment at White Oak Swamp, June 30, 1862. Knowlton, 18, was a farmer from Forestville, Chautauqua Co., N. Y. He was working in the oil fields at Tidioute when the war broke out; was a member of a volunteer company there which disbanded after two weeks. Knowlton went downriver to Franklin, Pa., where he joined the Raftsmen's Guard en route to Pittsburgh. The soldier was captured after being wounded at White Oak Swamp, was imprisoned at Richmond and subsequently exchanged. In poor health, he was dis­charged Jan. 17, 1863. Later, Knowlton re-enlisted in Co. I, 2nd U.S. Artillery. On July 1, 1865, he was accidentally thrown from a limber chest and run over. After his release from service Knowlton lived in McKean and Washington Cos., Pa., and in Grant Co., Indiana. He died Sept. 29, 1923.

 

BENJAMIN J. LANE

Deserted from Harrison's Landing, Va., after the Seven Days' Battles. Lane, 23, was a raftsman from Trumbull Co., Ohio. He was again re­siding there in 1881.

 

GEORGE W. LEE

Rejected in the Surgeon's examination at Harrisburg, May 29, 1861. Lee, 22, was a farmer from Cattaraugus Co., N. Y.

 

WILLIAM JOHN LINDSEY

This man's Civil War experience was an unusual one. Lindsey, 24, was a slater and tinner from Ellicottville, N. Y. He was transferred from the Bucktails, Aug. 25, 1861, to a newly created branch of the service then known as Major A. J. Myer's Signal Party. Lindsey was with the original group of trainees sent to the newly opened Central Signal Camp of Instruction at Red Hill, Georgetown, D. C. At the time there were fewer than 200 men assigned to what would shortly become the Signal Corps. Lindsey served as a signalman, mainly along the coast of North Carolina, until his discharge, May 17, 1864. He was mentioned in newspaper dispatches for meritorious conduct under fire at the time of the sailing of the Burnside Expedition, Spring 1862, and was promoted to Private First Class.

 

SAMUEL BURTON LYMAN

Discharged on medical grounds, June 7, 1862. Lyman, 27, described

 

21

 

himself variously as a raftsman, grocer, and marketman. He was tall (6'1"). Birthplace: Southampton, Mass. Prior to the war he had lived in Onarga, Ill.

 

JOHN MCMURRAY (Cpl.)

Killed at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862. Mc Murray, 33. was a charcoal manufacturer from Harrisville, Butler Co., Pa. He was captured with most of his platoon in the engagement at Gaines' Mill, June 27, 1862, and paroled Aug. 5, 1862.* McMurray was the tallest of the Rafts­men's Guard, standing 6'3 3/4".

 

DAVID G. MCNAUGHTON (Bvt. Major)

Wounded in right arm at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862. McNaughton, 25, was a blacksmith from Butler Co., Pa. He joined Roy Stone's company as a private, was promoted to 2nd Lt., June 24, 1861, and to 1st Lt., Feb. 17, 1862. Captured at Gaines' Mill, June 27, 1862, ex­changed probably in mid-August. After Antietam, McNaughton commanded the honor guard that escorted the body of Col. McNeil to interment at Auburn, N. Y. On the way back to his post McNaughton fell ill in Washington, D. C., and was hospitalized. He was afterwards court-martialed for late return, but acquitted. He was promoted to Captain of Co. D on March 1, 1863, and mustered out with the regi­ment, June 11, 1864. His home at that time was in Cincinnati. Mc­Naughton was brevetted Major on March 13, 1865, for "gallant and meritorious service in the Mine Run campaign, Va." In 1873, he re­sided in Box Elder, Utah.

 

HUGH WATSON MCNEIL (Col.)

Killed leading his regiment at Antietam, Sept. 16, 1862.** McNeil, 31, was cashier of the North Western Bank of Warren, originally from Oswego [Co.?], N. Y. He was a natural leader, genuinely loved by his men. He rose from 1st Lt. in the Raftsmen's Guard to Colonel of the Bucktail regiment in less than nine months. From all evidence, he was a fine orator, with much experience in the political debates of 1860. McNeil had been a student at Yale between 1849-51 and

 

 

*According to Thomson-Rauch, p. 109, the action of the morning of June 27, 1862, is frequently considered part of the battle of Mechanicsville, but the men captured that morning are credited against the losses of Gaines' Mill.

**Robert Hall wrote an account of McNeil's death which was published in the Warren Mail, Oct. 25, 1862, p. 2, cols. 3-5. Also see obituary in the Tioga Agitator, Oct. 1, 1862, p. 3, col. 2; and a further tribute in the Warren Mail, Dec. 20, 1862, p. 3, col. 2.

 

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probably received a Master's degree from Delaware College. During the next six years he taught school, worked for the U.S. Coast Survey and for the Treasury Department, meanwhile studying law under Sen. William H. Seward.* He was admitted to the bar in Washing­ton, D. C., but his health suffered in the climate and he moved, either to New York City or to Auburn, N. Y., or possibly to each in turn. In the latter city he was apparently a member of the law firm of Samuel Blatchford and Clarence W. Seward, nephew of Sen. Seward. McNeil finally abandoned law practice for health reasons and moved to Warren, Pa., in 1860. He became an active member of the Warren Wide Awakes and the Young Men's Republican Club. After the Ft. Sumter incident he was one of the prominent Warren citizens signing a public call to action. McNeil actively assisted Roy Stone in recruiting the Raftsmen's Guard. When the company arrived in Pittsburgh, Stone sent him on to Harrisburg in advance to arrange for quarters. When Stone became Major of the regiment, McNeil was promoted to Captain of Co. D. On Jan. 22, 1862, McNeil was elected to Colonel of the Bucktails. He caught typhoid fever at Falmouth and was hospitalized in May 1862. As a result, Major Stone, instead of Col. McNeil , commanded the Bucktails in the Seven Days' Battles, thereby establishing his own military reputation. As Stone's com­manding officer, McNeil recommended Stone's appointment to com­mand of a new regiment ( subsequently the Bucktail Brigade).

 

ALBERT MARSH

Not inducted into Co. D ; probably because of failure to pass the physical examination. Marsh, 30, was a farmer from Cattaraugus Co., N. Y., perhaps from the vicinity of Carrollton.

 

WILLIAM HENRY MARTZ

Wounded in right shoulder at South Mountain, Sept. 14, 1862. Martz, 21, was a farmer from Centre Hill, Centre Co., and Farm School, Bucks Co., Pa. He was discharged on account of the wound, March 9, 1863. After the war he resided in Altoona, Pa. He died in October 1881.

 

CHARLES H. MASTEN (Cpl.)

Wounded twice at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862, gunshot in left

knee, canister in right thigh. Masten, 23, was a raftsman from Warren

 

 

*Later, U.S. Secretary of State in Lincoln's Cabinet.

 

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and younger brother of James H. Masters. Both brothers had worked for Roy Stone before the war. Charles Masten transferred to the 190th Pa. Vols. - Veteran, May 13, 1564. He was probably captured with the majority of the regiment at Weldon railroad, Aug. 19, 1864, and held as prisoner of war until March 1865. Afterwards, Masten made his home in Kentucky and also lived in Biloxi, Miss. He died in Florida in 1924.

 

JAMES HACKNEY MASTEN  ( 1St Sgt.)

Wounded twice in the left breast, by shell at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862, and by ball at Wilderness, May 7, 1864. Masters, 24, was a raftsman from Warren and brother of Charles Masten. He was a nephew of Orris Hall's wife (Eliza K. Hackney) and therefore re­lated to Ribero and Roscoe Hall. ) James Masten was captured in the Seven Days' Battles, June 27, 1862, and held 40 days at Richmond's Libby and Belle Isle prisons. After the war he resided in Ogden, Utah, and was associated with Thomas Kincaid in the Arizona Terri­tory. He also lived in Springfield, MO., and on a 14-acre farm near Mobile, Ala. At one time he was a railroad inspector. During the Spanish-American War, 1898-99, he served in the Engineer Corps under Brig. Gen. Roy Stone on the island of Puerto Rico. Masters died on July 30, 1900, at Jacksonville, Ala.

 

CHARLES METZ

Mustered out with the Bucktails, June 11, 1864. Metz, 23, was vari­ously listed as a stone cutter, rum seller, oil well driller and merchant. His home was originally in Pittsburgh, where he probably joined the Raftsmen's Guard. Standing 5'3", Metz was apparently the shortest man in the group. He served as regimental bass drummer, also assist­ing as stretcher bearer during the Peninsular campaign. After the war he resided in Oil Creek, Oil City, Pithole and Pleasantville, Pa. He died in 1905, evidently at Oil City.

 

OSCAR F. MILSPAUGH (Or MILLSPAUGH)

Discharged on Surgeon's certificate, Sept. 26, 1863, far "hernia of right side." Milspaugh, 25, was a lumberman and raftsman residing in Poland Centre, Chautauqua Co., N. Y. He was born in Warren, Pa.

 

PERRY MITCHELL

Wounded at White Oak Swamps, June 30, 1862, by gunshot passing

 

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through both thighs. Mitchell, 22, was a raftsman from Harrisville, Butler Co., Pa., who enlisted at Franklin, Pa. He was captured after being wounded in the above engagement, and later paroled. Mitchell was discharged on Surgeon's certificate, March 13, 1863. After the war he worked at tailoring and running engines at oil wells. By his own account, Mitchell lived "at Harrisville, Pa., about 2 years, on the Allegheny 1 1/2 years, and ever since then . . . followed up the several oil fields of the United States, to wit, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas and California:" He was one of the later survivors of the Raftsmen's Guard, dying on Feb. 20, 1928.

 

EDWIN MUZZY (Sgt.)

Mustered out with the Bucktails, June 11, 1864. Muzzy, 22, was a raftsman and farmer from Columbus Tp. He was waiting for the Raftsmen's Guard at Pittsburgh, having previously rafted a shipment of lumber down the Allegheny far Roy Stone. As "3rd Sgt." of Co. D, he had charge of the sick book. At Antietam he developed "a terrible dysentary [sic] and fell by the wayside," from which desperate condi­tion he recovered by eating burned ears of corn.* He returned to

Warren Co. after the war and was living at East Branch as late as 1906.

 

CHARLES C. NUTTING

Mustered out with the Bucktails, June 11, 1864. Nutting, 30, was a shoemaker from Wales Centre on Big Buffalo Creek, Erie Co., N. Y. He joined the company at Warren. Captured at Gaines' Mill, June 27, 1862, and subsequently paroled.

 

EDWIN MILTON PARKER

Discharged on disability resulting from measles, Aug. 5, 1861. Parker, 23, was a mason and plasterer from Eden, McKean Co., Pa. He re­enlisted from Oshkosh, Wis., in Nov. 1863, as a member of Co. C, 32nd Regt. Wis. Inf. After the war he lived in Indiana, dying at Fulton, July 23. 1905. (Not listed in either Thomson-Rauch or Bates.]

 

CHARLES PENHOLLOW

Killed at Gettysburg, July 3, 1863. Penhollow, 21, was a lumberman

 

 

*See interview with Mrs. Mertha (Muzzy) Keller, March 1955; and letters of Edmund Muzzy to his brother Edwin, April-May, 1862; transcripts in files of Warren County Historical Society.

 

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from Erie Co., Pa. Alongside his name on the Surgeon's list is the notation, "P. over." After his rejection by Co. D, Penhollow was accepted by Co. H of the Bucktail regiment.

 

HENRY PENHOLLOW

Wounded at Harrisonburg, Va., June 6, 1862. Penhollow, 19, was a farmer from Erie Co., Pa., presumably a close relative of Charles Penhollow. He was likewise assigned to Co, H of the Bucktail regi­ment. His birthplace is listed as Chautauqua Co., N. Y. He was discharged on account of disabling wounds, Feb. 28, 1863.

 

PATRICK J. POWERS

Mustered out with the Bucktail regiment, June 11, 1864. Powers, 21, was an artesian well digger, oil man and raftsman, born in Ireland. He was working at Tidioute when the war broke out. Powers suffered from sunstroke on a forced march to protect Union wagon trains from Jeb Stuart's cavalry in June 1862. Captured at Gaines' Mill about June 27, 1862, and subsequently paroled. Michael Gannon was Powers' tentmate. Powers was married to Mary O'Donnell at Niagara Falls, three months after his discharge from the army. He died on July 14, 1887, in Paducah, Ky.

 

EDWIN P. PRATT

Deserted Aug. 7, 1861, at Harrisburg, Pa. Pratt, 29, was a wagon maker from Erie Co., N. Y. After examination by the Surgeon he was assigned to Co. H.

 

GEORGE B. QUIGLEY

Discharged on Surgeon's certificate, Aug. l, 1862.* Quigley, 19, was a clerk for A. E. Hall, Warren merchant. He tented with Ribero D. Hall in 1861. Both Hall and Jewett testified that Quigley received a rupture of the right side caused by a fall. This happened while Quigley was carrying a comrade's gun in addition to his own in June 1861, while on skirmish duty. (The gun belonged to McMurray who was answering a call of nature.) As a result Quigley afterwards wore a truss. After military service he resided for a time in Elk Tp., Warren Co. He clerked for O. H. Hunter of Warren, later moving to McKean Co., Pa., and Bowling Green, Ohio. He was one of the later survivors,

 

*His account of Co. D in action during the Seven Days' Battles appeared in the Warren Mail, July 12, 1862.

 

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dying at the San Diego Naval Hospital, April 22, 1927.

 

JOHN PETER ROSE

Killed at New Market Cross Roads, June 30, 1862. Rose, 27, was a tailor residing in Warren. He was slight of build (5'4 1/2") and had emigrated from Sweden.

 

SAMUEL ROSS

Disqualified by the Surgeon's examination. Ross, 21, was a lumber­man from Warren Co. He may have enlisted in the 14th Pa. Cavalry at a later date.

 

HENRY H. RUNYAN

Wounded in the knee at Gettysburg, July 2, 1863. Wounded in calf of leg at Spottsylvania Court House, May 10, 1864. Runyan, 20, was a farmer and raftsman from Waterford, Erie Co., Pa. He was work­ing in West Spring Creek at the time of his enlistment. Place of birth: near Nunda, Chautauqua Co., N. Y. Runyan was captured in the Seven Days' Battles, probably June 27, 1862, imprisoned at Belle Isle and Libby prisons, subsequently paroled. He was absent in the hos­pital, recovering from wounds, at the time of the muster-out of the Bucktail regiment. After the war he moved to Martin Co., Minn., married Sarah Ann Neal of that county, and had seven children. He named one after Hugh McNeil, another after Roy Stone. He died in Fairmont, Minn., June 16, 1930, one of the last of the Raftsmen's Guard.

 

HOUSTON (Or HUGH) W. SAMPLE

Rejected at time of Surgeon's examination. Sample, 19, was a farmer from Columbus Tp. In 1862, he enlisted in Baldwin's Independent CO., Pa. Militia Inf. {9 mos.). Afterwards he joined the 5th U.S. Artillery E Battery, for three years, receiving his discharge Dec. 19, 1865.

 

JOHN SCHANZ

Rejected because of "hernia of right side." Schanz, 24, was a farmer, apparently from Warren Co.

 

WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON SHAWL

Deserted from camp at Bull Run, Aug. 27, 1862. Shawl, 20, was a sawyer and raftsman from Emlenton, Pa., where he joined Roy

 

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Stone's river party. Shawl's birthplace was Armstrong Co., Pa. Following his desertion he went to the West Coast. The term "Insane" appears opposite his name on the roll of Co. D, but this infirmity was not too apparent to the citizens of Ballard, Washington ( now a part of Seattle), for they elected him mayor of the town. He was alive as late as 1910, describing himself as a retired lumberman.*

 

CALVIN M. SILVERNAIL (Or SILVERNALE)

Died of "camp fever" at Darnestown, Md., Feb. 27, 1861. Silvernail, 18, was a farm boy from East Trumbull, Ashtabula Co., Ohio.

 

SHERWOOD SIMMONS

Rejected in Surgeon's examination. Simmons gave his age as 18, but the 1860 Census of Warren Co. lists him as 13 years old. Undoubtedly the youngest of the Raftsmen, Simmons came from his father's farm in Columbus Tp., where he was residing as late as 1890.

 

THEODORE SINGLETON

Mustered out with regiment, June 11, 1864. Singleton, 22, had worked as a sawyer in the lumber camp of Henry Baxter in Mead Tp. This was quite near I. V. Stone's (Roy Stone's father's) lumber camp. Singleton had apparently worked for the Stone family as early as 1856, along Tionesta Creek, three miles above Warren borough. In an affidavit written fifty years later, Singleton stated: "In Spring 1860 I took a raft of lumber to Louisville, Ky., for Roy Stone, then returned to the lumber woods." He referred to himself as a "river driver." Singleton was originally from Centre Co., Pa. He was captured in the Seven Days' Battles, probably June 27, 1862, and subsequently paroled. After the war he returned to Centre Co., then moved west­ward - first to Minnesota, then Montana, where he did some prospecting and mining, finally to Douglas Co., Oregon, where he died in 1914.

 

JAMES STEWART

Died of wounds received at Antietam, Sept. 17, 1862. Stewart, 26, was a farmer and raftsman from Prince Edward Island, Canada, who had been employed in the Warren Co. area. He was the son of John Stewart of Brackley Point Road, Charlottetown, P.E.L, probably of

 

 

*See his letter in Venango (Pa.) Vindicator, Feb. 11, 1910.

 

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