Reinsberg, Mark: Descent of the Raftsman’s Guard

From The Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine, Vol. 53, No. 1, January 1970

By Mark Reinsberg

These are biographical sketches of ninety-two men belonging to an unusual rifle company formed in Warren County, Pennsyl­vania, at the start of the Civil War. An accurate roll call of the original group has never been printed and probably never will be. By the time it became officially enrolled as Company D of the 13th Reserves (Bucktail Regiment), attrition and replacements had con­siderably altered the company’s membership. This is an effort to re­construct the original list of volunteers prior to muster-in at Camp Curtin, and to record their individual fates in the war and afterwards. Mostly they were Pennsylvania men from forests and towns along the Allegheny. When the news came of Fort Sumter they assembled in the town of Warren with their hunting rifles and set forth down the river to crush the insurrection. They called themselves the Raftsmen’s Guard because most had indeed rafted down the river on loads of lumber, floating to market with the spring freshet, exuberant out­doors men.

Their leader was a gentleman, Roy Stone, the lumberman’s son who had gone to college in the east but returned to his destiny in the wildcat country.¹

His lieutenant was the cashier of the local bank, Hugh McNeil, a founder of the Warren Wide Awakes and fervent rhetorician.

There were about seventy-five men to begin with, encamped in the courthouse square, impatiently awaiting orders from the state capital. And rather than march overland, in the absence of direct rail connections, they were easily persuaded by Captain Stone to build eight open boats to carry them to Pittsburgh, a river distance of 203 miles.² From there they could board a train to Harrisburg where the reception center had been set up.

At high noon on May 20, 1861, the Raftsmen’s Guard embarked from Warren. The Warren Ledger and the Warren Mail were wit­nesses to the event and, for a rarity, the rival editors substantially agreed in their descriptions of the departure.³ Having struck tents and formed ranks in the square, the blue denim-clad company was escorted to the river by the local militia and “a vast concourse of citizens.” At the landing the recruits listened in sultry spring weather to farewell speeches “of the most eloquent and stirring nature” by civic leaders, eliciting “unbounded applause.” Capt. Stone responded briefly, then called upon the company orator, Lt. McNeil, who floridly thanked the ladies of Warren for patriotically sewing the Raftsmen’s uniforms.⁴ A clergyman closed the ceremony with “a fervent prayer.” Then, Parents, sisters, brothers, sweethearts, gathered around the departing soldiers, amid tears and the most uncontrollable demonstrations of grief and affection bade them adieu and God speed.⁵

It was one of those inevitably stylized events, a patriotic cere­mony that would be duplicated, with appropriate variations, in a thousand American towns. Still, of all the innumerable departures of that war, there could not have been many that were quite like the leavetaking of the Raftsmen, rowing briskly down the river, with drums beating and banners flying , . . amid the cheers of the citizens, the loud hurrahs of the [militia] and the booming of the old six pounder on the river bank . . . .⁶

It stirred the romantic imaginations of city folk downriver. Pittsburgh and Harrisburg newspapers announced that “the hardy yoemanry” of the lumber region were a-coning to teach the Southern­ers a lesson. “Nature’s noblemen from the Wild Cat district” were on their way. Their marksmanship became an instant legend: all Raftsmen were “able to snuff a candle with their rifles at fifty yards.”⁷ Sighed the Pennsylvania Daily Telegraph: “We wish we had ten regiments of such serviceable soldiers . . .”⁸

Wielding six oars to each skiff, the Raftsmen rowed down the Allegheny on a high crest of patriotic zeal, pausing at so many towns en route to be feted, and to add new recruits, that the journey took over four days to complete. One stopover was at Franklin on May 21 where the editor of the Venango Spectator reported the march past his office of “as fine a looking body of men as we ever saw together . . . . Lord help the bean pole chivalry of Secessiondom when it falls into the hug of these hardy raftsmen.”⁹

For some, for most, it was the last voyage down a river redolent of place names such as Brokenstraw, Goose Falt, Tidioute, Prathers, Dorkaway, Tionesta, Pithole, Horse Creek Eddy where rafts usually tied up for the night, Oil Creek famed for its Seneca Oil, Franklin, Indian God Rock, Big and Little Scrubgrass, Fall­ing Springs Riffle Evault s Defeat Emlenton, Cumming’s Trunk, Bald Eagle Island, Cinder Bank Bend Catfish Falls, Sugar Creek Bar, furnaces of the Great Western Iron Works, Phillipsburg, hTelly’s Chute, 114ahoning Rapids, Cownshan­nock Creek, Castaway Bar, Kittanning, Pickle’s Eddy, Mad Dog Riffle, Kiskiminitas Creek, Freeport, Puckerty Island, Tarentum, Panther Run, Mechanicsburg, Quigley’s Run, Squaw Run, Nigley’s Run, Gurty’s Run, Sharps­burg and Pittsburgh.¹⁰

It was one of those great bravura passages, the sight of the rugged, determined men from the backwoods going to war. Pittsburgh knew how to applaud. “Arrival Extraordinary,” said the Gazette¹¹ as a ladies’ committee readied a reception, and the skipper of the steamboat Melnotte offered overnight accommodations for the entire company.¹²

By the time it arrived, about six o’clock in the evening of May 24, Capt. Stone’s company had grown from 75 to perhaps 130 men. The number of boats in the flotilla had also increased, from eight to eleven.¹³ They came with a flourish for spectators along the shores. Each skiff flew the Stars and Stripes, and the men had stacked their rifles in the bow. They were preceded by “an excellent band” which Stone had somehow arranged for. Rowing into the sunset, the little “fleet” passed down the Point, with flying colors, the band playing appropriate national airs. At the Point they rounded into the Monongahela, and ascended to the steamer . . . .”¹⁴

That night the company had supper at Scott House, a hotel over­looking the river from the corner of Duquesne and Irwin (Seventh). Stone chose to stay there overnight as befit a gentlemanly officer; it should be added that he returned fifteen months later to marry the hotel keeper’s daughter, Mary Marker.¹⁵

The next evening, May 25, the Raftsmen’s Guard again marched into the tearoom of Scott House, and this time they found a committee of the ladies of Allegheny City prepared to present each man with a copy of the New Testament and a tract containing tile Litany and Prayers of the Episcopal Church. The speeches made on this occasion reflect the rhetoric of the flour and the mood of high drama felt by the participants, and are worthy of preservation.¹⁶ Said a spokesman for the ladies Captain Stone, and Soldiers of the Raftsmen’s Guard:

Our city papers have announced your arrival as that of a sturdy, keen-eyed band of patriots from the “Wildcat District.” That you arc sturdy, keen-eyed and crack shots, any one can see. That you are patriots, your response to the call of your country gives full Proof; and that you have been trained to arms in the “Wildcat District” is an additional merit which every one, in this emergency, will recognize. Once your native forests were infested by that terror of the settler’s household, whose name the region bears. At its savage cry or its pre­tended human wail, mothers shuddered and clasped more closely their sleeping babes, and fathers seized their weapons to pursue the treacherous enemy. Where is the wildcat now? Fallen before your trusty rifles or fled from the sound of your manly footsteps. Soldiers, this extermination of the wild cat is prophetic. Rebellion and Anarchy are prowling about the “Home of the Free.” Liberty clasps more closely her darling Union, and Patriotism starts forth weapon in hand, to exterminate the foe. You are bound to do your share in this business. Before your unerring rifles there will be no distinction between wildcats and traitors. Before you they must die, or fly!

Soldiers, in the confidence of your strength, your marksmanship and your bravery, you must not forget that there is a Power above all who alone can give to you the victory. The cause for which you fight is glorious and holy. Do not prove recreant to it by forgetting God ! To remind you of Him the ladies of Allegheny have sent to each of you a beautiful volume of His word. In each is written the name of the owner, and this kind message:

Will you accept this little memento of Christian love from the ladies of Allegheny city? May it be your companion and comfort, in Camp and in battle, and a pledge to assure you are remembered by us daily at the Throne of Great King of kings and the God of Battles.

My friends, I know you will appreciate this gift; you will read it; you will carry it in your bosom on the march and in the battlefield; and when strong in the might of your just cause, and your own brave arm you face the enemy, each pulsation of your heart against this, the Christian talisman, will assure you that ‘Invincible is he who puts in God his trust.’

Capt. Stone received the gifts “with appropriate remarks,” relying again on Lt. McNeil to respond with the ceremonial eloquence re­quired. Expressing thanks on behalf of the company “for this unexpected kindness from strangers, who are yet our truest friends,” McNeil declaimed

We are Raftsmen, and supposed to be rough, but beneath each exterior beats a heart that can deeply feel your kindness. We will bear your precious gift on our journey, in the camp, on the battlefield, and if the God of battles wills it so, home again, to be preserved by us and owned as a perpetual remembrance of the ladies of Allegheny, whose friendship we will never forget. But we will not return until once more our country’s glorious banner floats aloft unsullied and unmenaced by traitors. We know, for this book tells us, that the prayers of tile righteous avail much. We thank you for your prayers. Our hearts’ desire is, that we may he brought face to face with the enemies of our Constitution and Union, and knowing my Captain and his men, I can assure you that the Raftsmen’s Guard will bear themselves with honor.

Late that night the company boarded a train of the Pennsylvania Central railroad, arriving in Harrisburg on Sunday, May 26, at 6:00 A.m. There, a breakfast of hot coffee, sandwiches and Dutch cakes awaited the men. “This,” one of them noted, “was furnished by our Captain, at his own expense; Long may he wave; and may his shadow never grow less.”¹⁷

The following is a list of the men who were almost certainly participants in the voyage down the Allegheny from Warren to Pitts­burgh, May 20-24, 1861.¹⁸

It includes at least sixteen or seventeen men who enlisted en route. The roster is based on an unpublished “Record of Recruits Examined by John F. Carpenter, Surgeon at Camp Curtin,” dated May 29, 1861.’ If we can credit newspaper reports of the group’s arrival in Pittsburgh (in eleven boats, each carrying about a dozen men), some thirty or forty recruits must have dropped out of the company between Pittsburgh and Harrisburg.

William D. Abbott	Thomas K. Humphreys
Elijah Akin	John T. A. Jewett
Henry C. Barber	Calvin Jobes
Adelbert M. Chapel	Amos H. Johnson
David Henry Clancy	George D. Junkin
William H. Clark	Graham Madison Kennedy
Eleazer A. Clough	William J. Kibbey
Myron C. Cobb	Thomas H. Kincaid
Cordello Collins	Robert A. Kinnear
Francis Coughlin	Byron D. Knowlton
William H. Davis	Benjamin J. Lane
Andrew Jackson Deming	George W. Lee
James Devirs	William John Lindsey
Theophilus Devoge	Samuel Burton Lyman
Joseph W. Dunton	John McMurray
Stephen B. Dunton	David G. McNaughton
Horace W. Ellison	Hugh Watson McNeil
Francis H. Freeman	Albert Marsh
Michael Gannon	William Henry Martz
Nelson Geer	Charles H. Masten
Abner M. Gordon, Jr.	James Hackney Masten
Ribero DeSan Hall	Charles Metz
Robert Hall	Oscar F. Milspaugh
Roscoe A. Hall	Perry Mitchell
Albert G. Hamblin	Edwin Muzzy
John Hamblin [Hamlin]	Charles C. Nutting
Sylvester C. Hamlin	Edwin Milton Parker
David C. Harrison	Charles Penhollow
Benjamin Franklin Hascall	Henry Penhollow
John C. Hatton	Patrick J. Powers
John C. Henlan	Edwin P. Pratt
George W. Hoack	George B. Quigley
Freeland Hobart	John Peter Rose
Edmond Horigan	Samuel Ross
Martin S. Hosely	Henry H. Runyan
Houston W. Sample	Augustus A. Trask
John Schanz	Walter Vincent Trask
William Henry Harrison Shawl	William Vanarsdale
James B. Walker	Sherwood Simmons
Theodore Singleton	Harry T. Weaver
James Stewart	Franklin West
Roy Stone	F. Wetmore
Orme T. Strickland	David C. Struble
Joseph Whitaker	Abraham C. Williams
Joseph W. Tarbell	Sylvester Wood

Thirteen of these men were either rejected by the examining surgeon at Camp Curtin or passed over for some other reason when the company was formally organized. (Incomplete and somewhat in­accurate rosters of Company D, 13th Reserves, appear in Samuel P. Bates, History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-5, Harrisburg, 1869; and in O. R. Howard Thomson and William H. Rauch, History of the “Bucktails,” Philadelphia, 1906.)

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.

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 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.¹⁹

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

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.

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 Dranesville, 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 (1st 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. He was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant after demonstrating his military aptitude at Dranesville, 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 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. 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.

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?”

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 [Webmaster Note: This man is John Fletcher Hamlin – not 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 [FLETCHER] HAMLIN (Sgt,) : Died in Libby prison, Richmond [Webmaster Note: According to period letters written by Hamlin’s friends, he died in a rifle pit, not in Libby Prison as this article suggests], June 25, 1864, of wounds received in action near Petersburg, June 13, 1864. Hamblin [Hamlin], 24, was a farmer, son of Isaac Hamblin of Brokenstraw Twp. Having survived his three­year term of enlistment in the Bucktails, Hamblin [Hamlin] re-enlisted in the 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 Cordello 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.

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′ 1/2″) 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.

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 regi­ment, 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 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.

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 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, 1862²⁰, 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, 1862.²¹ 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 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.²² 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).²³

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 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 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.²⁴ 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 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. 1, 1862.²⁵ 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, 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 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.[efn_ note]See his letter in Venango (Pa.) Vindicator, Feb. 11, 1910.[/efn_note]

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 the Stewart family which had emigrated from Perthshire, Scotland, in 1818.²⁶ The exact date of his death is unknown.

ROY STONE (Bvt. Brig. Gen.). Wounded in pelvis at Gettysburg, July 1, 1863. Injured by fall from horse at Wilderness, May 5, 1864. Stone, 24, was a lumber operator and oil speculator from Mead Tp. and Cuba, N. Y. He was born in Prattsburg, Steuben Co., N. Y., and attended Union College at Schenectady. Stone organized the Raftsmen’s Guard of which he was elected captain. Shortly after arrival at Camp Curtin, Harrisburg, he was elected major of the Bucktail regiment. Though his original 1st Lt., Hugh McNeil, advanced to the colonelcy of the regiment ahead of him, Stone, because of McNeil’s illness, commanded the regiment in the Peninsular campaign with great dash and distinction. As a result, he was authorized to recruit his own Bucktail Brigade (143rd, 149th, 150th Pa. Inf., Vols.). The new Bucktails served valorously under Stone at Gettysburg, July I, 1863, where Stone was severely wounded and briefly held captive. After a lengthy but incomplete recovery, Stone again commanded the Bucktail Brigade in the opening days of the Wilderness campaign until a fall from his horse reopened his Gettysburg wound and rendered him unfit for further active duty. Subsequently, Stone was brevetted a brigadier general, Volunteers, and placed in charge of a prisoner-of-war camp at Alton, Ill. He resigned his commission shortly before the war ended. After­wards, Stone returned to his lumber and oil interests in Warren Co. For a short time he was also co-proprietor of a tannery there. Between 1868-76 he was a lumber operator at Vandalia, Cattaraugus Co., N. Y.In 1876 he built and exhibited the world’s first passenger-carrying monorail road at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition.²⁷ One result of this was the “Pegleg” railroad at Bradford, Pa., 1877-79. In this period Stone suffered financial reverses and moved from Cuba, N. Y.,to New York City to make a fresh start. He successfully pursued the profession of civil engineer for the U.S. Corps of Engineers and the City of New York. In 1892 he assumed the leadership of the Good Roads movement and, in 1893, founded the precursor of the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads, which he headed until 1899. Stone served as a brigadier general of Volunteers in the War with Spain, directing the engineering staff of General Miles in the invasion of Puerto Rico. He spent his final years in Mendham, N. J., where he died Aug. 5 (6), 1905.

ORINE T. STRICKLAND. Discharged on Surgeon’s certificate, Aug. 5, 1561, debility resulting from severe attack of measles. Strickland, 18, was a blacksmith from Farmington. [Not in Thomson-Rauch]

DAVID C. STRUBLE. Mustered out with Bucktail regiment, June 1l, 1864. Struble, 21, was an oil well engineer and farmer from Hubbard, Trumbull Co., Ohio. Drawn to the oil boom, he enlisted at Franklin, Pa., with Horace Ellison. After the war he returned to Hubbard, Ohio, where he was residing as late as 1893.

JOSEPH W. TARBELL (Cpl.). Mustered out with Bucktail regiment, June 11, 1864. Tarbell, 28, was a harness-maker and raftsman from Allegheny Co., Pa., originally perhaps from Elmira, N. Y. He was captured in the Seven Days’ Battles, probably June 27, 1862, and subsequently paroled. In 1864 he was detailed as a saddler at division headquarters. After the war he worked at Elmira. His death there on Oct. 17, 1897, was attributed to an accidental overdose of tincture of opium taken to relieve the pain of rheumatism and other physical ailments.

AUGUSTUS A. TRASK (Sgt.). Killed at South Mountain, Sept. 14, 1862. “Gust” Trask, 22, was a journeyman carpenter and joiner from Youngsville. Trask, with most of the platoon he led, was captured in the Seven Days’ Battles about June 27, 1862, and held at Richmond until paroled early in August. He was the son of Joseph S. Trask, a wagon maker of Youngsville, and brother of Walter V. Trask.

WALTER VINCENT TRASK. Discharged on Surgeon’s certificate, Jan. 8, 1863, because of “pneumonia, rheumatism, delitation of heart.” Trask, 19, was a rafts­man and farmer from Youngsville. He was captured with his brother Augustus in the Seven Days’ Battles. At Antietam he was injured in the left lung by a shell. After his discharge from the Bucktails Trask enlisted for 100 days as a Sgt. in Co. I, 193rd Pa. Vol. Inf. He moved to Nevada after the war, then to California in 1875 where he engaged in mining. He died in March 1909.

WILLIAM VANARSDALE. Killed in the Wilderness, May 6, 1864. Vanarsdale, 19, was a rafts­man and lumberman from Russellburg. He lived with his father on Quaker Hill, teaming and making shingles. Vanarsdale tented with William H. Clark who described him as “a tough, healthy man.”

JAMES B. WALKER (Cpl.). Wounded three times: at New Market Cross Roads, June 30, 1862 ;at Second Bull Run, July 30, 1862 ; at South Mountain, Sept. 14, 1862. Walker, 20, was a printer employed by the Warren Mail. He was born in Mercer Co., Ohio, son of George B. Walker, a master carpenter who established himself in Warren. Walker’s wounds in­cluded the loss of three teeth, as well as a bullet in his left thigh and testicle.²⁸ The soldier was transferred to Co. D, 6th Veteran Reserve Corps, and some time after May 21, 1864, given his discharge. After the war he worked as a stationary engineer at Tidioute. In his old age he moved to Findlay, Ohio, where he died Jan. 3, 1919.

WILLIAM WALLACE. Wounded in right foot near Mechanicsville, June 27, 1862. Wallace, 21, was variously a drover, stage driver, and farmer from Shannon, N. Y. He was captured in the Seven Days’ Battles and subsequently paroled. In an 1881 affidavit Wallace claimed that in the fall of 1862 at Falmouth he was detached to assisting in the loading of bread wagons, and that as he was letting down the tail gate the tongue of the wagon behind him struck him in the back. He was discharged on Surgeon’s certificate Dec. 27, 1862. Afterwards he traveled to San Francisco. He re-enlisted in the army, 1866-69, and again in 1869-74. Finally he settled in the vicinity of Newark, N. J., where he worked as a carpenter and oil dealer. In 1914 he entered Newark’s Home for Disabled Soldiers. He died May 17, 1922.

HARRY T. WEAVER  (Sgt.). Mustered out with the Bucktails, June 11, 1864. Weaver, 18, was a carpenter from Russellburg. With others in his platoon he was cap­tured during the Seven Days’ Battles and held at Libby prison until paroled, probably early in August 1862. His family evidently resided at Greenfield, Erie Co., Pa., during the war. After the war he moved to Chesaning, Saginaw Co., Mich., where he died July 11, 1917.

FRANKLIN WEST. Listed in the Surgeon’s examination as “Passed over.” West, 30, was a lumberman from Warren Co.

M. (MARTIN?) F. WETMORE. Apparently rejected in the Surgeon’s examination. Wetmore, 20, was a lumberman, possibly from Spring Creek.

JOSEPH WHITAKER. Mustered out with the Bucktails, June 11, 1864. Whitaker, 21, was a raftsman and lumberman from Klecknerville, Northampton Co., Pa. He had also lived in Crawford Co., Pa. After the war he resided at Youngsville, leaving for parts unknown about 1889.

ABRAHAM C. WILLIAMS (1St Lt.). Wounded at Gaines’ Mill, June 27, 1862 (gunshot between the eyes, the ball passing out on left side of his head). Williams, 26, was a woolen manufacturer from Anderson Mill, Butler Co., Pa. He enrolled in the Raftsmen’s Guard as its orderly sergeant. In Nov. 1862, he was transferred to Co. K, 172nd Pa. Inf. Vols., and commissioned 1st Lt. attached to the engineering staff. Williams was mustered out with his company, Aug. 1, 1863. He died Nov. 28, 1906, in Butler Co.

SYLVESTER WOOD. Accidentally shot off little finger of left hand. Wood, 19, was a farmer who resided in Brockton, Chautauqua Co., N. Y., and originally came from Milwaukee, Wis. He was transferred to the Veteran Reserve (Invalid) Corps, Sept. 5, 1863, evidently as a result of “disease of the lungs” contracted while he was undergoing sentence in the guard house for being absent without leave. Following discharge in May 1864, Wood worked in the Pennsylvania oil fields as a laborer, driller and engineer at Oil City, Parker’s Landing, Tidioute, Edenberg, and elsewhere. Between 1870-78, he resided in Clarion Co., Pa., and later moved to Woodburg Co., Iowa, where he worked as a house painter. In 1894, Wood wrote a letter from jail in Hoboken, N. J., appealing a cut in his pension. When released from prison he moved to Bradford, Pa. He died in July 1910, alone on the car line near Buckroe, Va.

1. Stone’s recruitment activities are described in the Warren Mail, April 27, 1861, p. 2 Col. 2 ; May 4, p. 2, Col. 1; May 11, p. 2, Col. 1; the Warren Ledger May 1, p. 2, Col. 2; and the Pittsburgh Evening Chronicle, May24 p. 3, Col. 1. The local mood is well described by Frances Ramsey, “Warren County and the Civil War – II,” Stepping Stones, Warren County (Penn.) Historical Society, Summer, 1961, pp. 195-6.
2. Samuel P. Bates, History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-5, Harrisburg, 1869, p. 908, says the company was first advised by Governor Curtin to disband because no further enlistments were authorized, and the voyage downriver was originally planned as a means of joining Gen. McClellan in West Virginia as an independent corps of sharpshooters.
3. Warren Ledger, May 22, 1861, p. 2, col. 1 ; Warren Mail, May 25, p. 2, col. 3.
4. See Warren Mail, May 11, 1861, p. 2, col. 1: “The Ladies of Warren are giving most efficient aid to the good cause, by their laborious services in equipping the volunteers with uniforms. For the last two weeks they have been constant in their good work. The residence of Mr. Scofield has assumed the appearance of a clothing Emporium, as many as thirty ladies being assembled there at one time assiduously plying the needle and `running the machine.”‘ Stone paid for the cloth. Glenni W. Scofield, 1817-91, was a lawyer, later U.S. Congressman from the Warren district, 1863-75 ; Register of the U.S. Treasury, 1878-81 ; and judge, U.S. Court of Claims, 1881-91. Scofield’s collected speeches (J. B. Lippincott, Philadelphia, 1892) reveal great rhetorical ability.
5. Warren Ledger, May 22, 1861, p. 2, col. 1.
6. Ibid.
7. Pittsburgh Evening Chronicle, May 24, 1861, p. 3, col. 1.
8. May 25, 1861, p. 3, col. 1.
9. Venango Spectator, May 22, 1861.
10. See E. L. Babbitt, The Allegheny Pilot, Freeport, Pa., 1855. I am grateful for the loan of his rare volume from the collection of the Warren County Historical Society
11. Local newspaper coverage was extensive. In addition to the Evening Chronicle, May 24, 27, stories on the Raftsmen’s Guard were carried in the Pittsburgh Dispatch, May 25; Post, May 25, 27; Gazette, May 25, 27, 28.
12. See Pittsburgh Dispatch., Flay 25, p. 3, col. 4: “. . . the Melnotte must have quartered at various times at least three thousand troops – one or two companies of whom lived upon her for weeks at a time. Her gallant Captain [John T. McCombs) has lodged and fed with one or more meals, every company that has been quartered upon her . . . . When we consider that there is no business prospect for the steamboat men and they have been lying up upon expense far some time, such liberality is highly com­mendable, and should not be forgotten:’
13. Pittsburgh Dispatch and Gazette, May 25
14. Pittsburgh Gazette; May 25.
15. See Mark Reinsberg, “General Stone’s Elevated Railroad,” WESTERN PENN­SYLVANIA HISTORICAL MAGAZINE, July 1966, p. 190.
16. Pittsburgh Gazette, May 28, p. 2, col. 1.
17. Letter from Robert Hall printed in Warren Ledger, June 19, 1861, p. 2 col. 2.
18. Photostats of this and other unpublished military rolls were generously sup­plied by the Pennsylvania Adjutant General’s Office, Department of Military Affairs. Cordello Collins,” WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA HISTORICAL MAGAZINE, July 1965.
19. See Mark Reinsberg, “A Bucktail Voice: Civil War Correspondence of Pvt. Cordello Collins
20. 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.
21. 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.
22. Later, U.S. Secretary of State in Lincoln’s Cabinet.
23. 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.
24. 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.
25. His account of Co. D in action during the Seven Days’ Battles appeared in the Warren Mail, July 12, 1862.
26. Identification provided by Mrs. George Rogers, Jr., of Charlottetown, P.E.I
27. See Mark Reinsberg, “General Stone’s Elevated Railroad,” WESTERN PENN­SYLVANIA HISTORICAL MAGAZINE, July-Oct. 1966, Jan. 1967.
28. The Warren Mail for Oct. 25, 1862, reports that Walker “made us a call on ., crutches . . . one of some eight or ten volunteers who have ‘seen service’ in the Mail office.”