For over 20 years I have had the honor and pleasure of searching local cemeteries in York County for Civil War veterans. It has become somewhat of a passion of mine, and to this day I continue to expand my search. In my travels I have over documented the resting place of over eight hundred veterans of the Union Army who served in numerous regiments. Being from York County myself, the greatest prevalence of burials I have stumbled across are from the 7th Pennsylvania Reserves, Company H, which was recruited largely from neighboring Cumberland County, and the 12th Pennsylvania Reserves, Company G, largely from York County. In hopes of finding more of these men I began to expand my search across the internet to see if I could find additional burial sites for men belonging to those companies. What I found very interesting is that a number I had come across were not buried in Pennsylvania. I thought it would make an interesting article to share, shedding some light on the veterans of these two companies. Here is to the honor of these brave men.
Those buried in Andersonville National Cemetery, Andersonville, Georgia
Thomas J. Archar, 7th Reserves, Company H
Jonas Blosser, 7th Reserves, Company H
Joshua Jackson Chapman, 7th Reserves, Company H
Simon P. Hoover, 7th Reserves, Company H
Samuel Komes, 7th Reserves, Company H
Franklin A. Smith, 7th Reserves, Company H
Jacob Welty, 7th Reserves, Company H
Those buried in Salisbury National Cemetery, Salisbury, North Carolina
Winfield S. Duffield, 12th Reserves, Company G
Orlando Simpson, 12th Reserves, Company G
Jeremiah Parsons1, 12th Reserves Company G
Those buried in US Soldier’s and Airmen’s Home National Cemetery in Washington D.C:
David Ehrman, 12th Reserves, Company G
Charles Moyer, 12th Reserves, Company G
Peter Whalen, 12th Reserves, Company G
Those buried in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA:
Joseph A. Durnbaugh, 7th Reserves, Company H
Isaiah Siders, 7th Reserves, Company H
Those buried in Richmond National Cemetery, Richmond, VA:
Michael Hess, 7th Reserves, Company H
Samuel Wesley, 7th Reserves, Company H
Those buried across the country:
Samuel Breneman, 12th Reserves, Company G, buried in Mount Hope Cemetery in Turtle Lake, Wisconsin.
Henry Hariman, 12th Reserves, Company G, buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Frederick, Maryland.
Richard Sneath, 12th Reserves, Company G, buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Omaha, Nebraska.
Samuel Skipper, 12th Reserves, Company G, buried in Hampton National Cemetery in Hampton, Virginia.
Jacob Heffelfinger, 7th Reserves, Company H, buried in St. John’s Church Cemetery in Hampton, Virginia.
Templeton Brandon Hurst, 7th Reserves, Company H, buried in Forest Hill Cemetery in Madison, Wisconsin.
William Durnbaugh, 7th Reserves, Company H buried in Hopkins Cemetery in Yorktown, Virginia.
John Anthony, 7th Reserves, Company H, buried in Antietam National Cemetery in Sharpsburg, Maryland.
John Hood, 7th Reserves, Company H, buried in Annapolis National Cemetery in Annapolis, Maryland.
Peter J. King, 7th Reserves, Company H, buried in Little Rock National Cemetery in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Jacob P. Mountz, 7th Reserves, Company H, buried in Newcastle Cemetery in Newcastle, California.
I sincerely hope you found these burial records of these honorable Pennsylvania Reserve veterans as interesting as I did. Some of these men after the war certainly ventured outside of their old state to find a new life and a new future. One can only guess as to the reason for these choices. Was it to get away from what they had just experienced for three or more years? Was it to follow an old career or to start a new living? Was it marriage or family based? Or just as many thought the war was going to be an adventure when they first enlisted, were they looking for that adventure that they certainly didn’t find in the war? One can only speculate the reason.
