Following the bombardment of Fort Sumter in Charleston
Harbor, South Carolina, on April 15, 1861, President
Abraham Lincoln appealed for 75,000 volunteers to
fight for the Union Cause. Pennsylvania, one of the
states most supportive of the Lincoln administration,
responded overwhelmingly with hundreds of patriotic
men dedicated to preserving their country. A high
number of these volunteers came from Union County.
One company immediately left for Harrisburg, the State
Capitol, in answer to the President's urgent summons;
the second unit soon followed. This was the first of
many calls the men of Union County answered to save
the fragmented nation.

When the North was shocked by defeat in the First
Battle of Bull Run at Manassas, Virginia, on July 21,
1861, five Union County companies organized for
military action. The Pennsylvania Reserve Volunteer
Corps went into Federal service a few days later.
The unsuccessful first attempt to capture Richmond in the
spring and early summer prompted a call for additional
troops on July 7, 1862. Three companies from Union
County were recruited just before the Northern loss at
the Second Battle of Bull Run, August 29-30, 1862. In
September, Governor Andrew G. Curtin ordered the
citizens of Pennsylvania to arm themselves. Two
Lewisburg militia units answered the Governor's call
for emergency assistance when Confederate General
Robert E. Lee's army crossed the Potomac River, and
established camp at Frederick, Maryland, on
September 7, 1862.

In late June 1863, three local emergency companies
rushed to defend their state. One company left
for Harrisburg as Lee's forces approached Gettysburg.
When the two opposing armies met, the battle raged
for three days, July 1-3. In Union County, some
residents believed that Confederate Major General
Thomas Jonathan (Stonewall) Jackson would raid the
rich Buffalo Valley to replace the South's dwindling
resources. Because Jackson had married a young woman
who was originally from Milton, Pennsylvania, he would
have known of the thriving manufacturing centers and
fertile farmlands along the Susquehanna River.(1)

General Jubal Early's burning of Chambersburg,
Pennsylvania, and the subsequent threat to
Washington, D.C. resulted in Lincoln's urgent appeal
for 500,000 additional troops on July 27, 1864. Once
more, two Union County companies responded. The last
local unit was mustered in March 1865. They served
only a short time after Richmond fell, and the South
surrendered at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, on
April 9, 1865. For the love of homeland and nation,
nearly twenty Union County companies fought for the
Northern Cause. Ten of these units were from the
community and University at Lewisburg.(2)

The first company to leave after Fort Sumter, the
Lewisburg Infantry, was organized by J. Wesley
Chamberlin, and J. Merrill Linn, one of the seven students
who received his diploma in 1851 at the first
Commencement of the University at Lewisburg (renamed
Bucknell University in 1886). On April 19, 1861, 1,500 people
gathered at the train depot in Montandon, across the
river from Lewisburg, to send the Infantry on its way
to Harrisburg where they were mustered in at Camp
Curtin as Company G, 4th Regiment.(3) Chamberlin was
elected Captain, with First Lieutenant George H.
Hassenplug, Second Lieutenant Linn, and First Sergeant
James Chamberlin (University at Lewisburg, Class of
1860) named as other officers.

Barred from taking the direct route to the national
Capitol by violent protestors in Baltimore, the 4th
Regiment traveled first to Philadelphia, then to the
U. S. Naval Academy at Annapolis. Later transferred
to Washington where they were crowded into public
buildings, many men soon fell ill from the heat and
atrocious living conditions. All were disheartened
by the lack of action until June 24, 1861, when the
unit was sent to Alexandria, Virginia, where Company
G engaged the enemy for the first time, repulsing a
small band of Confederate soldiers on June 30, 1861.
The Union County men were mustered out of service in
late July 1861.

Captain Thomas Chamberlin (University of Lewisburg,
Class of 1858) led the second Union County company.
Named for Lewisburg businessman Eli Slifer, Secretary
of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the Slifer Guards
left on June 5, 1861. Their escort to the depot
included a contingent of the Home Grays, commanded
by Captain Jacob Neyhart, and the University Company,
led by Captain J[ohn]. B[owen]. Hutton (University at
Lewisburg, Class of 1864). The University Company had
organized and begun drilling in early May. George R.
Bliss, Professor of Languages, delivered the farewell
speech. In Harrisburg, the Slifer Guards were
mustered in as Company D, 34th Regiment, 5th
Pennsylvania Reserves.(4)

The Slifer Guards fought in several major battles.
Following the brief break in hostilities during the
winter months of 1861-1862, they were assigned to
General George McClellan's Peninsular Campaign in the
attempt to capture Richmond. Company D joined the
Army of the Potomac in the Seven Days' Battles
at Mechanicsville, Gaines's Mill, and Glendale, June 25-
July 1,1862, then fought at the Second Battle of Bull Run.
Their next battles were at Antietam, Maryland,
September 17, 1862, and Fredericksburg, Virginia,
December 13, 1862. The Slifer Guards defended their
home state for two days at Gettysburg, July 2-3, where
they occupied Big Round Top. Ten months later, from
May 5-7, 1864, Company D was in action at the Battle
of the Wilderness, near Fredericksburg. Their last
engagement was at Bethesda Church, Virginia, on
May 30, 1864. In his address delivered at a post-war
reunion, S. D. Bates reminded the audience that of the
one hundred and three men recruited for the Slifer
Rifles, only twenty-one returned.(5)

Five other companies from Union County responded to
the appeal for fresh recruits after the First Battle
of Bull Run. More than 500 hundred men were organized
into Companies E, H, and K, of the 51st Regiment,
Company D of the 52nd, and Company E of the 53rd.(6)
Many of those who formed the 51st had been part of
Company G, the first unit to leave for the war. Based
on that service, some received a promotion in rank.
Company E, the Shriner Guards, was under the direction
of Captains G. H. Hassenplug and William R. Foster, and First
Lieutenants Francis R. Frey and John A. Morris
(attended University of Lewisburg, Class of 1860).
Company H, the Linn Rifles, was commanded by Captain J.
Merrill Linn, and First Lieutenant George Shorkley.
The officers of Company K, the Walls Guards, were
Captain George P. Carman, and First Lieutenants Josiah
Kelley and John B. Linn. Commanded by Colonel John F.
Hartranft, the 51st saw more action than any other
local regiment, traveling a total of 10,438 miles to fight
in 20 battles.(7)

The 51st Regiment sailed for Cape Hatteras where first
they joined the assault on Roanoke Island in February,
then fought in the Battle of Newbern, March 14, 1862.
Commanded by General John Pope at the Second Battle
of Bull Run, the 51st next moved into Maryland where
they contributed to the Union victory at Antietam. Nearly
three months later they participated in the assault on
Marye's Heights during the Battle of Fredericksburg. Following
that engagement, they were transported to Kentucky, then
were with General Ulysses S. Grant during the end of the siege,
and fall of Vicksburg on July 4, 1863. Most of the regiment
re-enlisted in January 1864, and joined the Richmond Campaign.
A part of the July 30, 1864, charge at Petersburg, Virginia, the
51st was severing enemy supply lines just before the fall of the Confederate Capitol.

Recruited by James Chamberlin in November 1861, the
Cameron Guards, Company D, 52nd Infantry,
were with the Army of the Potomac at the Battle of
Fair Oaks, Virginia, May 31-June 1, 1862. Casualties
numbered more than half of the regiment during those
two days.(8) The regiment moved to South Carolina in
December andfought in the twenty-month assault on Charleston.
Six members of Company D, captured in the attack on
Fort Johnson in July 1864, were imprisoned at Columbia,
Florence, or Andersonville. After the Federal success, Major
John A. Hennessy of the 52nd Regiment raised the
Union flag over Fort Sumter on February 18, 1865.

Like the Cameron Guards, the Rooke Guards, Company E,
53rd Regiment, were also at Fair Oaks, then covered
the Union withdrawal at the Second Battle of Bull
Run.(9) Later, the company fought at Antietam, and at
Fredericksburg, where the attack on Marye's Heights
resulted in 50% casualties.(10) Other major engagements of
the Rooke Guards included the Battle of Chancellorsville,
Virginia, May 2-3, 1863; Gettysburg, July 1-2, 1863, where
they charged through the Wheatfield; Spotsylvania, Virginia,
May 8-19, 1864; Cold Harbor, Virginia, June 3-12, 1864; and
Petersburg, June 16, 1864. When blocking escape routesnear Appomattox, the 53rd aided in the capture of Lee's wagon
train on April 6, three days before surrender came.(11)

Three Union County units formed in the summer of 1862,
Company A, the 131st Regiment, the Union County Fencibles,
Company E, 142nd Regiment, and Company D, 150th
Regiment, the Bucktails. Company A, mustered for a
nine-month period, was at the Battle of Antietam, but
did not engage in combat until the attack on Marye's
Heights. The company provided support at Chancellorsville
before its term of service expired. Most members of
Company A re-enlisted in other units.

Company E of the 142nd Regiment was commanded by a local
teacher, Captain John A. Owens (Academy, University at
Lewisburg, Classof 1859, before leaving to teach). At
Fredericksburg, the 142nd lost 250 of its 550 men as part of
General George G. Mead's attack on Stonewall Jackson's position
at Hamilton's Crossing.(12) Company E was not in action at
Chancellorsville, but the 142nd was one of the first
Federal regiments to arrive at Gettysburg. Among the
wounded there were Captain Charles R. Evans (attended
University at Lewisburg, Class of 1861), and
Lieutenant Andrew G. Tucker (University at Lewisburg,
Class of 1862). Tucker died shortly after hearing of
Union victory, the first University at Lewisburg
soldier killed in the war. Company E went on to fight
at Richmond, the Wilderness, Cold Harbor, and the
siege of Petersburg. The company was still in combat
near Appomattox when hostilities ended.

The 150th Pennsylvania was commanded by Colonel
Langhorne Wister, Major Thomas Chamberlin, and Captain
Henry W. Crotzer. The first assignment of Company D
was to guard President Lincoln and his family who were
staying for a brief summer holiday in a cottage on
the grounds of the Soldiers' Home in Washington. The
150th went on to fight at Chancellorsville and
Gettysburg, where Major Thomas Chamberlin was wounded.
The Bucktails advanced on Richmond, and were on
the field at the Wilderness and Spotsylvania. After
participating in the siege of Petersburg, the regiment
was sent to Elmira, New York, where they guarded the
rendezvous camp for conscripts until the signing of
the surrender agreement at Appomattox.

In September 1862, Lewisburg militia companies B and C
went to Harrisburg where they joined eight other
units to form the 3rd Regiment. Company B, the
Lewisburg South Ward Militia, was commanded by
Charles C. Shorkley. Members of the unit included
Charles S[exton]. James, Professor of Mathematics, and
Justin R. Loomis, President of the university, both
of whom enlisted as privates. James later became an
officer, and Loomis was named Chaplain. George W.
Forrest led Company C, the North Lewisburg Militia.
The 3rd regiment advanced to Hagerstown, Maryland,
before returning home when Lee retreated. Three
members of the 3rd were of special significance to
State Secretary Eli Slifer. One of the field officers
was his brother-in-law, Major William Frick. First
Lieutenant Andrew H. Dill married Slifer's daughter,
Catherine Spyker Slifer, in 1864. Slifer's son Harley
served as Sergeant.(13)

The most frightening of all alarms for the Susquehanna
Valley sounded in June 1863, when Lee's army invaded
Pennsylvania. Harrisburg could be captured. The
entire state could fall into enemy hands. The
University Guards left on June 17, commanded by
Captain T[homas]. R[ockefeller]. Jones (University at
Lewisburg, Class of 1862), and First Lieutenant, David
Montgomery Nesbit (University at Lewisburg, Class of
1862). Professor James served as Second Lieutenant.
One enlistee, Freeman Loomis (University at Lewisburg,
Class of 1866), was the son of President Justin R.
Loomis. Of the seventy-seven members of the Guards,
thirty-six were former matriculates, or alumni. The
rest were current students, and young men who would
later enroll.(14) The University Guards became
Company A of the 28th Regiment. The two other
Lewisburg units of the 28th were Company D, the South
Ward Militia, under Shorkley, and Company F, the North
Ward Militia, led by Forrest. Company A guarded the
railroad bridge at Marysville, north of Harrisburg,
during the first two days of the battle at Gettysburg.
On July 3, they met the rest of the regiment at
Carlisle. The company was then sent to Shippensburg,
Pennsylvania, to guard Confederate prisoners. Some
members of the company, including Second Lieutenant
James, supervised the transport of more than one
hundred wounded prisoners to a Philadelphia
hospital.(15)

Near the end of July, Company A traveled to Hagerstown
where the rest of the 28th was stationed. With the
emergency over, the three Lewisburg companies soon
left for home, with the University Guards arriving in
time to attend the final events of the academic year.
The graduating seniors received their diplomas on
Commencement Day, July 30, 1863.(16)

After Early's advance into Pennsylvania, one local
militia company, Captain Bruce Lambert's
Independent Cavalry, left for Chambersburg. When
Early was defeated on March 2, 1865, the unit
was dispatched to Thoroughfare Gap, Virginia, at the
junction of the Manassas Gap, and Orange and
Alexandria railroads. Here the company guarded the
Manassas line, then the Orange and Alexandria, before
ending its service just before Lee surrendered.

Company I of the 192nd Regiment, recruited several
weeks before Appomattox, was the last Union County
unit to leave for military service. Commanded by
Captain J. Wilson Hess of Lewisburg, the company was
headquartered at Harper's Ferry, Virginia. They were
moving up the Shenandoah Valley when the fighting
ended.

The war was over, but the nation still faced one of
its most difficult trials. Abraham Lincoln had been
killed. Headlines shouted the shocking news:

___ Lewisburg Chronicle,

Extra Edition, April 15, 1865(17)

America mourned its President, and those lost on both
sides of the horrible conflict. Nearly one hundred
men from Union County gave their lives in the
country's greatest internal struggle. They died in
battle, from fatal wounds, imprisonment, or disease.
Some lived only a short while after suffering the
harsh deprivations of war. Many wondered about the
terrible price, a question perhaps best answered by
nineteen-year-old George W. Schoch, one of the
youngest members of the Slifer Guards. In a letter
written to his family, Schoch describes the motivation
for serving as a Pennsylvania Volunteer:

The process of reconstruction and healing was slow.
Over three decades after the agonizing strife had
ended, Lewisburg paid its final tribute. The monument
memorializing the soldiers who fought and died in the
Civil War was unveiled on July 4, 1901. John Howard
Harris, President of Bucknell University, officiated
at the dedication ceremony:

Notes

     1 In "The Days of '63," Bucknell Alumni Monthly, 
     December 1922: 4, Lucy Bliss is incorrect in stating 
     that Jackson was married near Milton. He married 
     Elinor Junkin in Virginia in 1853. She was the 
     younger of the two daughters of the Reverend George 
     Junkin, pastor of the Milton Covenanter Presbyterian 
     Church, 1827-1831, and Julia Miller Junkin. Both 
     daughters were born in Milton, Margaret in 1820, 
     Elinore in 1825. 
     
     The family moved to Lexington when Junkin was named 
     president of Washington College. Elinore met Jackson 
     during the time he was teaching scientific courses at 
     the Virginia Military Institute. She died in 
     childbirth a year after their marriage. Committed to 
     the Union, the Reverend Junkin returned to his home 
     when war was declared. Jackson remarried in 1857. 
     Margaret Junkin married Major John Preston that same 
     year, and remained loyal to the South. She maintained
     a long correspondence with Jackson until his death on
     May 10, 1863, from a wound received at 
     Chancellorsville. 

     Professional genealogist Mary Belle
     Lontz recently located sources previously unknown to 
     local historians on Jackson and the Junkin family from
     which the above information was taken: Elizabeth 
     Preston Allan, The Life and Letters of Margaret Junkin
     Preston (Boston, New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Co.,
     1903); the Stonewall Jackson Papers, Virginia 
     Military Archives:
     http://www.vmi.edu/~archtml/tj541114.html
     For some of Margaret Junkin Preston's published works, 
     particularly "The Shade of the Trees," her poetic 
     tribute to Jackson, see Poetry and Music of the War 
     Between the States, the web site maintained by Kathie 
     Fraser: 
     http://cgibin1.erols.com/kfraser/preston.htm      [RETURN]
     
     2 Richard Sauers discusses the discrepancies in county 
     of origin lists among primary sources in Advance the 
     Colors: Pennsylvania Civil War Battle Flags. 2 vols.  (Harrisburg:
     Sowers Printing Co. for the Pennsylvania Capitol Preservation
     Committee, 1987-91)  248. 
     
     While some other regiments may have been mustered in 
     with local members, only those companies covered in 
     the following publications appear in this Union County 
     Civil War Military History: J. Orin Oliphant, The 
     University at Lewisburg and the Civil War (Lewisburg, 
     Pa.: Bucknell University Press, 1963); Charles McCool 
     Snyder, Union County, Pennsylvania: A Bicentennial 
     History. Contributions by John W. Downie, Elizabeth 
     L. Hitchcock, and Lois S. Kalp (Lewisburg, Pa.: By 
     Charles M. Snyder, and the Union County Bicentennial 
     Commission; Colonial Printing House, c1976); Lewis 
     Edwin Theiss, Centennial History of Bucknell 
     University, 1846-1946 (Williamsport, Pa.: By 
     Bucknell University; Grit Publishing Co. Press, 
     c1946). [RETURN]
     
     3 Oliphant quotes the Union County Star and Chronicle      
     19 April 1861: 6. [RETURN]
     
     4 Ibid., 7. [RETURN]
     
     5 S. D. Bates, Address, Reunion of Fifth Reserves, 
     quoted in local newspaper, 16 May 1894. Newspaper 
     clipping, Clippings Folder, Slifer-Walls Collection, 
     General Papers, Box 5, Special Collections/University 
     Archives, The Ellen Clarke Bertrand Library, Bucknell 
     University, Lewisburg, Pa. [RETURN]
     
     6 Snyder 239. [RETURN]
     
     7 Ibid., 230. [RETURN]
     
     8 Ibid. [RETURN]
     
     9 Sauers 148. [RETURN]
     
     10 Snyder 230. [RETURN]
     
     11 Sauers 149. [RETURN]
     
     12 Snyder 231. [RETURN]
     
     13 Samuel P[enniman]. Bates, History of Pennsylvania      
     Volunteers, 1861-5, vol. v (Harrisburg, Pa.: B. 
     Singerly, State Printer, 1869-71) 1153-4. [RETURN]
     
     14 Oliphant 23. The full muster roll of Company A, 
     28th Regiment is listed in Bates, vol. v: 1239. [RETURN]      
     
     15 Theiss 99. [RETURN]
     
     16 Oliphant 19-23. [RETURN]
     
     17 Snyder 239. [RETURN]
     
     18 Ibid., 225. Snyder quotes a letter from the papers 
     of Mrs. Franklin Earnest (no other information given). [RETURN]      

                                    Sources Consulted

Allan, Elizabeth Preston.  The Life and Letters of
  Margaret Junkin Preston.  Boston, New York:  Houghton,
  Mifflin and Co., 1903.

Bates, S. D.  Address, Reunion of Fifth Reserves, 16 May
  1894. Newspaper clipping.  Clippings Folder. Slifer-
  Walls Collection.  General Papers, Box 5.  
  Special Collections/University Archives, The Ellen Clarke 
  Bertrand Library, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pa.
  
Bates, Samuel P(enniman).  History of Pennsylvania
  Volunteers, 1861-5.  Harrisburg, Pa.:  B. Singerly, State
  Printer, 1869-71.

Jackson, Thomas Jonathan (Stonewall).  The Stonewall
  Jackson Papers.  Virginia Military Institute Archives,
  Preston Library, Virginia Military Institute, Lexington,
  Virginia.
 http://www.vmi.edu/~archtml/tj541114.html

Kalp, Lois.  A Town on the Susquehanna, 1769 - 1975:  With
  an Epilogue, 1975 - 1980.  Lewisburg, Pa.:  By the
  author; Colonial Printing House, 1980.
 
Linn, John Blair.  Annals of Buffalo Valley, Pennsylvania,
  1755 - 1855.  Harrisburg, Pa.:  Lane S. Hart, Printer and
  Binder, 1877.

Lontz, Mary Belle.  Index to the Annals of Buffalo Valley.  
  [Milton, Pa.:  By the author, typescript, c1965]. 

Preston, Margaret Junkin.  "The Shade of the Trees."
  Poetry and Music of the War Between the States.  Web
  master, Kathie Fraser.  
http://cgibin1.erols.com/kfraser/preston.htm

Oliphant, J. Orin.  The Rise of Bucknell University.
  New York:  Appleton-Century-Crofts, [1965].

________.  The University at Lewisburg and the Civil War.
  Lewisburg, Pa.:  Bucknell University Press,  1963.

Sauers, Richard Allen.  Advance the Colors:  Pennsylvania
  Civil War Battle Flags.  2 vols.  Harrisburg, Pa.:  Sowers Printing 
  Co. for the Pennsylvania Capitol Preservation Committee.
  1987-91.

Snyder, Charles McCool.  Union County, Pennsylvania:  A
  Bicentennial History.  Contributions by John W. Downie, 
  Elizabeth L. Hitchcock, and Lois S. Kalp.  Lewisburg,
  Pa.:  By Charles M. Snyder, and the Union County
  Bicentennial Commission; Colonial Printing House, c1976.

Theiss, Lewis Edwin.  Centennial History of Bucknell
  University, 1846-1946.  [Williamsport, Pa.:  By Bucknell
  University; Grit Publishing Co. Press, 1946].