Pennsylvania 62nd Infantry Regiment

Field and Staff Officers


62d  Pennsylvania Monument at Gettysburg

Field and Staff Officers (Regimental Officers, Commissioned and Non-Commissioned)

The commanding officers of the regiment were, in succession, Colonel Sam Black (killed), Colonel J. B. Sweitzer (promoted to brigade command); Lieutenant-Colonel James C. Hull (killed); and Captain William P. Maclay from Company C. Maclay was never promoted above Captain and was not listed in Bates as a regimental field officer. Maclay rose in the ranks from 1st Sergeant.

Date of muster was 4 July 1861, except where noted.

Field and Staff Officers, with highest rank

Remarks

Colonel Samuel W. Black

Col. Samuel W. Black, when he was Territorial Governor of Nebraska

Portrait of Col. Samuel W. Black, taken shortly before his death

Killed at Gaines Mill, Va., 27 June 1862.

The account of his death from several sources indicates he died while at the head of his regiment, cheering on his troops as he led them in an assault. An article in the 4 July 1862 Pittsburgh Gazette uses "Mr. James Onslow, of Col. Black's Regiment," who had "arrived in this city to-day" as its source that Black was shot through the head, just above the forehead, and that his body was placed under the shade of a tree by his brother "Will," who covered it with piece of tent, and left it within the rebel lines. His sword, hat , and some other articles, were secured by his friends, and his body was later recovered.

Sam Black, born on 3 September in 1816 in Pittsburgh, was the son of a Covenanter preacher, the sixth of nine siblings. According to his granddaughter in her memoir Whirling Spindle, his full name was Samuel Brown Wylie Black. His name is most often seen in documents as Samuel W. Black. He was graduated from Western University of Pennsylvania (later known as the University of Pittsburgh) and trained as a lawyer, studying under Richard Biddle, a former member of Congress. Black was admitted to the bar in 1838. Soon after he married Eliza Irwin, the daughter of Judge Thomas Mifflin Irwin. Well connected, industrious, dynamic, and bright, in only a short time Black built a lucrative law practice. With connections to the Democratic Party elite of Pittsburgh, Black became excelled in politics as well, becoming a noted stump speaker. His political career was postponed but enhanced by the Mexican War. As war fever grew in 1846, Black became a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Sixth Regiment of State Militia and a member of a committee of resolutions, which served to stir up support for the war, raise funds, and recruit volunteers. By December, the 1st Pennsylvania Volunteers was officially mustered into the United States Army, being formed by companies from both Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, including the Duquesne Greys and Jackson Blues. As one of several company captains, Black was elected by popular vote of the soldiers to serve as Lieutenant Colonel, defeating several officers from Philadelphia. Black was presented with his sword in a joyous ceremony on December 21. The next day the regiment departed by steamboat to New Orleans and reached their destination on 28 December.

Black's chief glory during the Mexican War came in the Siege of Puebla, the last battle of the war. When General Scott left the city of Pueblo earlier in the year to march on Mexico City he left behind only a small garrison (plus 1800 soldiers sick with dysentery). The men left behind were furious at Scott, including Black, who tendered his resignation. Black was resentful, believing his regiment had been snubbed out of an arrogant disrespect by "the regulars" for his volunteer regiment. Scott refused to accept Black's resignation, assuaging Black with praise for his six companies as the best drilled and disciplined in the whole volunteer division of the army, and, therefore

just the troops he wanted to defend the garrison. Furthermore, he said, Black would have enough fighting to do before the war was over. The garrison, with the total effective strength of 247, was commanded by Colonel Thomas Childs. The infantry was made up of six companies from the 1st Pennsylvania, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Black. Scott's prediction proved to be true. After Scott's advanciong forces captured Mexico City, in a last gasp effort, President and General Santa Anna attempted to retake his hometown, the city of Puebla, the second largest city in Mexico. Over 4000 Mexican soldiers surrounded the city and entered significant sections of it. The Americans were forced to take refuse in the three strongholds they had garrisoned. Black took command of the citadel of San Jose, which also served as the hospital. Childs was requested on three different occasions to surrender, but each time refused. For more than thirty days and nights, the troops were showered with cannon fire and bullets fired from streets, balconies, and the tops of buildings. Access to food and supplies were cut off, and attempts were made to divert the stream supplying water. Childs, in his report, wrote of a "violence that knew no cessation" and praised Black in his command of San Jose, where the point of the attack occurred. The food supply was short, many soldiers were sick, but the troops endured and held the city until a relief force from Vera Cruz diverted and defeated General Santa Anna's troops. Perhaps since Puebla was ultimately a victory for the Americans and had no martyrs, unlike at Alamo, the officers at Puebla did not become legendary. One black mark against Black, however, was that after the city was liberated, Pennsylvania troops under his command celebrated by plundering deserted buildings and setting fire to a bullring until dragoons were sent out to stop them.

William G. Johnston, a wealthy Pittsburgh adventurer, author, and publisher, wrote that Black was a gifted and fiery orator who could get so emotional that he was nicknamed the "Bengal tiger." While still in the field of battle in Mexico, Black became the Democratic candidate for the U. S. House of Representatives. He lost that election, and, returning to Pittsburgh after the war, became an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. He was a member of the Pennsylvania delegation at the Democratic National Convention of 1852 and was chosen to speak for the delegation in casting its vote for Franklin Pierce. Through his political connections, he was appointed justice of the Territory of Nebraska's Second Judicial District and moved up to become a justice on the Territorial Supreme Court in 1857. In February 1859 was appointed Governor of the Nebraska Territory by President James Buchanon. He served two years, starting on 2 May 1859. He was a popular choice initially (not that the sentiments of the people of the territory had any political weight), but he was not adverse to political partisanship or controversy as governor and made a few enemies. He was characterized in one newspaper as being intemperate, but this may have been an unfounded political attack. Since Black was a Democrat, it was not at all surprising that he was replaced as governor by Abraham Lincoln almost as soon as Lincoln took office. However, Black had connections in both parties. He was a friend of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, with whom he once may have been a law partner.

He was no abolitionist. In fact as Governor of the Nebraska territory, he was accused of being pro-South when he twice vetoed an antislavery bill, only to have the territorial legislature outlaw slavery with a veto override. Sam Black, however, was loyal to the cause of saving the Union. Because of the controversy and because territorial governorships were part of the political patronage system, Black resigned after the election of Abraham Lincoln, although he did so before Lincoln was sworn into office. As soon as his replacement arrived in the state, Black returned to Pittsburgh for the sole purpose of organizing a regiment in Lincoln's army. A tribute published in the 4 July 1862 Pittsburgh Gazette, indicates that Black "saw the great crime of Secession" and that he "talked to his men of the causes and consequences of the war, of hte cruel ingratitude of the traitors."

Here is a sample of Black's eloquence on an entirely different issue: "Let us all with one accord, say, 'God bless the common school system. For it is to the wintry condition of the world what the sunshine of spring, the rain of heaven and the distilled dews of the night are to the earth in her struggles to bring forth through ribs of frost the bud, the leaf and the flower.'"

Black's death came very early in the war. At the very outset of the battle of Gaines Mill, the Sixty-second Pennsylvania and the Ninth Massachusetts charged across a ravine in their front against heavy infantry fire. While leading the charge, Colonel Black was killed before reaching the woods on the far side of the ravine. His valor was profiled in Samuel P. Bates' Martial Deeds of Pennsylvania (1876).

This description of Black comes from an old schoolmate of his, James Junius Marks, in his account of The Peninsular Campaign in Virginia, written in 1864: "He was, more than most men, familiar with those secret springs which lie far back of every public movement. He was profoundly under the conviction, from the first development of the slaveholders' conspiracy, that if permitted to carry out their plans, they would dig the grave of liberty for the whole continent." This wording might suggest either that he was anti-slavery or that he was anti-extension of slavery or perhaps only anti-secession. Marks indicates that he and Black met for the first time in many years before Yorktown. "He was at this time strictly temperate, from principle, and possibly from necessity, never drinking intoxicating liquors of any kind; purely virtuous in all his sentiments, and never uttering, so far as I have heard, a profane word; generous and familiar with his men, always known as the soldier's friend; strict in discipline, he had an almost unbounded influence over the regiments in his immediate circle." I am puzzled by the phrasing, wondering if he was not strictly temperate earlier in his life. Marks went on to say he "found no officer having a more just appreciation of the causes generating this rebellion, or who could express so eloquently and philosophically the views he had been gradually forming for years, of the consequences which must follow from handing over the Government, bound hand and foot, to those whose views were essentially anti-republican." According to Marks, Black was a religious man: "I was likewise impressed with the conviction that the colonel was not far from the kingdom of heaven. His conduct and expressions were those of one who felt his responsibility to God, and who was determined that his entire life for the future should be influenced by loftier aims than in the past. He appeared to me to have come at length fully under the religious impressions received from the example and teachings of his venerated father." Again, the wording seems to hint that in the past he might have been influenced by less lofty aims, but I could be reading too much into it.

GAR Post 59, in McKeesport, was named in his honor.

Black was married and had at least one son. An article in the Pittsburgh Gazette written after his death thought he had four children. Samuel Black, Jr., after his father's death, appeared to use the tragedy as a means of getting into West Point. He was more than a mediocre student and received a host of demerits while he was there. He was about to be dismissed for a hazing violation, when he used his connection with the Secretary of War to try to prevent this terminal disciplinary action. The Secretary of War quite heavy handedly came to Cadet Black's rescue, at the expense of the careers of three admired veterans of the war and distinguished graduates of the United States Military Academy, kept black from being dismissed and overruled the decision of a court martial. Unfortunately for Stanton, even after his vindictive actions, Cadet Black shortly resigned from West Point anyway, and enlisted in the Army as a substitute and was appointed second lieutenant in the 17th U.S. Infantry. He apparently was a better soldier than student and rose through the ranks and remained in the army after the end of the war. The younger Sam Black died of yellow fever five years after his father was killed, while on duty in Texas. For more of the young Black's story, see the Civil War History article, Duty, Honor, Country, and Skullduggery, by Eugene C. Tidball.

Colonel Jacob Bowman Sweitzer (usually known as J. Bowman Sweitzer or J. B. Sweitzer) (Made Brevet
Brigadier General
after the war)

Portrait of Colonel J. Bowman Sweitzer taken by Matthew Brady

Mustered in as Major. Promoted from Major to Lieutenant-Colonel, 17 November 1861; Wounded and Captured at Gaines Mill, Va., 27 June 1862, and was sent to Libby Prison in Richmond, Va. General Order No. 118 of the War Department Adjutant General's Office, signed 27 August 1862, lists officers of the United States service who have been exchanged as prisoners of war for prisoners taken in arms against the United States, including Lieutenant Colonel J. B. Sweetzer [sic] for Lieutenant Colonel W. E. Baldwin, 14th Mississippi. He appearas to have returned to the regiment before the date of the General Order. Promoted to Colonel 27 June 1862. Became Commander of Second Brigade at Chancellorsville, 30 April 1863. Served temporarily as Commander of First Division, Fifth Corps, December 1863. Mustered out with company, 13 July 1864. Promoted to brevet Brigadier General, 16 March 1865, for gallantry and meritorious service during the war, by recommendation from Secretary of War E. M. Stanton to President Andrew Johnson.

Born in on the Fourth of July, 1821, in West Brownsville (Washington County), PA, Jacob Bowman Sweitzer was educated at Jefferson College (graduate of the class of 1843), and began to practice law two years later. He became a prominent Pittsburgh attorney and served as U. S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Like Sam Black, he was an influential member of the Democratic Party. And like Black, he was hardly known as an abolitionist. In the first fugitive slave case to be tried in Pittsburgh, Sweitzer, then a United States Commissioner, executed a warrent of arrest against a man that slave catchers from Kentucky claimed was an escaped slave, Woodson, aka Paul Gardner. Sweitzer could be said to being forced by his position into following the law, but others in similar positions had been known to delay or circumvent the law. Citizens of Pittsburgh raised enough money to buy Woodson out of slavery, when he lost a court case to keep him from being returned to Kentucky. As late as January 1861, however, Sweitzer spoke at a public meeting favoring the Crittenden Compromise, a futile effort to prevent the war by proposing constitutional amendments to protect and extend slavery. However, Sweitzer was loyal to the cause of saving the Union. Although he had no previous military experience, Sweitzer served as a Major in the First Regiment of the Second Brigade of the Allegheny County Home Guards, joining in the spring of 1861.

Joining the 62d as a major, Sweitzer rose quickly in the ranks, taking command of the regiment upon the death of Col. Black at Gaines Mill, and being promoted to command the Second Brigade of the First Division of the Fifth Corps. Possibly because of the black mark painted against the Fifth Corps' First Division during the Battle at Gettysburg, even if the Second Brigade acquitted itself well under the circumstances, he was not promoted to General until after the war was over. His valor was profiled in Samuel P. Bates' Martial Deeds of Pennsylvania (1876).

After the war he returned to his law practice until he was appointed by President Grant to the position of Supervisor of Internal Revenue for the Western District of Pennsylvania in 1869. In 1873, after the Internal Revenue merged districts, Sweitzer was appointed Protonotary of the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court. He served in that office until his death on 9 November 1888. His charitable interests included libraries, hospitals, reform schools, and welfare of the poor. See also the biographical sketch of Sweitzer in The Biographical Encyclopaedia of Pennsylvania of the 19th Century, 1874 (starting on page 646).

Sweitzer came from prominent families. The colonial Sweizers, also spelled Schweitzer, were Mennonite farmers. Sweitzer's great grandfather, Conrad Schweitzer, is listed in 30,000 Names of Immigrants in Pennsylvania as arriving in Philadelphia on 15 September 1749 aboard the "Edinburgh." J. Bowman's father, Henry Sweitzer, was both a sheriff and member of the legislature in Maryland before he married Ann Elliot Bowman and moved to western Pennsylvania, where he flourished in business, banking, and real estate. The Bowman family was important in the industrial development of western Pennsylvania. J. Bowman Sweitzer married Mary Holmes Stevenson in 1852. He was the older brother of Nelson Bowman Sweitzer, a West Pointer, who was an aide-de-camp to McClellan and, most famously, commander of the regiment that tracked down and killed John Wilkes Booth. Nelson B. Sweitzer, as far as I can tell, had little to do with the capture of Booth, however. Lieut. Edward P. Doherty was assigned to lead a detachment of twenty-five men from the Sixteenth New York Cavalry for the special assignment. They tracked down Booth and David Herold to the barn on the Richard Garrett farm.

Lieutenant-Colonel Theodore Frederick Lehmann

Lt. Col. T. F. Lehman

Born in Germany, Lehmann had military academy training and held a commission in the army before he emigrated to the U.S. He organized the Columbia Rifles, which was part of the First Regiment Rifles of the First Brigade of the Allegheny Home Guard. Lehmann left the 62d Pennsylvania on 3 October 1861 to return to Armstrong County to accept promotion to Colonel and commander of the 103d Pennsylvania Volunteers. His appointment was controversial. J. B. Finlay, the financier of the 62d's Company D, was largely responsible for the organization of the 103d, and had secured the right to appoint the regiment's colonel, subject to confirmation by the regment's commissioned officers. Finlay opted for Lehmann over any of the officers of the 103d, inviting him officially with a letter of 21 October. Before he was commissioned, however, Lehmann aroused the ire of Colonel Finlay and his subordinate officers by filling key office ranks without consulting Finlay and from outside the regiment. Dissention arose and Finlay attempted to take command of the regiment for himself. Although Lehmann won the battle to command the regiment, the 103d began its service quite divided. Lehmann, however, survived the war and mustered out on 25 June 1865 at New Berne, NC, still in command of his regiment.

Lehmann was described by Luther S. Dickey, in his regimental history of the 103d Pennsylvania, as "in physique and deportment, ... superlatively the beau ideal of a military officer." He "was by nature a dominating and arrogant spirit, and coming into supreme authority over a body of men ... it was not long until these dominating traits became apparent."

One of his first appointments, Samuel B. Kennedy, a protege from the 62d (he had been Sergeant Major of the 62d after mustering in as a private in Company G) whom Lehmann promoted to Adjutant of the 103d, was wounded by friendly fire under suspicious circumstances.

Bates spelled his name T. Frederick Lehman, but as commander of the 103d, he was referred to as Theodore F. Lehmann, and he filed for an invalid penion on 7 July 1870 asa Theodore F. Lehmann.

Lieutenant-Colonel James C. Hull
portrait of Lt. Col. James C. Hull

Promoted from Captain, Co. A to Lieutenant-Colonel, June 27, 1862; Died 22 May 1864, of wounds received at Laurel Hill, Va. (Cold Harbor).

Civil War Veterans' Card File, 1861-1866: Age: 32; Occupation: Carpenter; Residence: Allegheny Co.; Hair: Black; Eyes: Gray; Complexion: Fair; Height: 5'11 1/2"

Hull was born on 16 January 1829 in Allegheny, PA (now part of Pittsburgh). He was buried at his family gravesite at Uniondale Cemetery in Pittsburgh. He was married to Caroline N. Hull, and they had at least one daughter, Mary. Thanks to Phyllis Love Ard, Hull's great granddaughter for additional information.

Captain William Plunkett Maclay

Maclay never was promoted in rank beyond Captain of Company C, so, technically, his name should not appear among the Field and Staff Officers. However, after Lieutenant Colonel Hull was mortally wounded at Spottsylvania Court House, Maclay assumed command of the regiment. Mustered out with company, 13 July 1864.

Civil War Veterans' Card File, 1861-1866: Age: 20; Occupation: Carpenter; Residence: Clarion Co.; Hair: Sandy; Eyes: Blue; Complexion: Fair; Height: 5'11 1/2". Name is listed McClay, with a note that rolls show name as Maclay.

Maclay was born on 4 May 1841 in the town of Hartleton, Union County, Pa. After the war, Captain Maclay moved to the western United States, but he filed an invalid pension in Pennsylvania in 1881. There is no record of wife or children.

Alternate spellings of the nast name are M'Clay and McClay. Plunkett is also spelled Plunket.

Maclay came from a distinguished family. His father was a judge and his grandfather and great uncle were both United States Senators -- his great uncle (along with Robert Morris) was Pennsylvania's very first United States Senator.

Major James W. Patterson

Mustered in 4 July 1861 as Captain of Company B. Promoted to Major of regiment 15 December 1861. Resigned 10 August 1862 because of ill health.

Civil War Veterans' Card File, 1861-1866: Age at Enrollment: 42; Occupation: Surveyer; Residence: Allegheny, Pa.; Hair: Dark; Eyes: Hazel; Complexion: Fair; Height: 5'7"

Patterson suffered from “general debility and partial hemiplegia [paralysis on one side of the body]” and was "physically incapable of enduring the fatigue incident to the service.” It is not indicated if the illness was caused by stress, stroke, or something else.

Major William Gustin Lowry
portrait of Maj. Gustin Lowry

Promoted from 1st Lt., Co. C to Major, 10 September 1862. Served as Aid-de-Camp to Brigadier General Griffin of the 2nd Brigade of Porter's 5th corps from July 1862 probably until his promotion to Major. Killed at Gettysburg, 2 July 1863. Buried in National Cemetery, sec. B, grave 26.

According to General Order No. 243 of the War Department Adjutant General's Office, signed 28 July 1863, Major Lowry had been president of a General Court Martial that convened at the camp of Griffin's Division, 5th Corps, on 24 March 1863 that tried and found Private Cornelius Collins, Company F, 20th NY State Militia (Ulster Guards), guilty of one count of murder and one count of assault with intent to kill. The incident was alleged to have occurred on 16 March 1863. Collins was sentenced to hang by a 2/3 verdict. According to Seward Osborne, the historian of the Ulster Guards, Collins was not hanged, but imprisoned in Fort Delaware for 6 years.

Civil War Veterans' Card File, 1861-1866: Age: 26; Occupation: Clerk; Residence: Clarion Co.; Hair: Brown; Eyes: Gray; Complexion: Fair; Height: 5'8 1/2"

Lowry was born in Pennsylvania and was a 25 year old clerk living in Piney Township, Clarion County, at the time of the 1860 census. From the census record there is in indication that he was then married, and he appeared to be a member of a boarding house, or some other household with six family members and seven additional unrelated individuals of both sexes.

In his letters home, he signed his name Gus and Gust.

John N. Boucher in History of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania (1906), p. 442, indicated that on 12 February1863, Lowry, a native of Freeport, Pa., married Martha Stewart, a teacher who was educated at the Saltsburg Academy. His widow signed her name Mattie S. Lowry in her pension application.

Brother of Corporal Robert A. Lowry of Company C.

Adjutant Joseph H. Brown

Promoted from 1st Lieutenant of Company L (date unknown). Resigned October 28, 1862.

Civil War Veterans' Card File, 1861-1866: Age: 30; Occupation: Roller; Residence: Pittsburgh, Pa.; [No other personal information provided]; Remarks: Tras from Company L. Pro. to Adjt. (date Unknown) Resigned 10-28-62.

In a letter dated 25 June 1862, Colonel Black remarked that had been "quite sick with fever" for a few weeks, and the colonel thought he should go home for a few weeks. -- Moorhead, Elizabeth, Whirling spindle : the story of a Pittsburgh family. Pittsburgh, Pa. : University of Pittsburgh Press,: unknown, 1942

Adjutant J. E. Cunningham

Mustered into service, 11 December 1861. Promoted from 1st Lt., Co. L, October 28, 1862. Killed at Fredericksburg, Va., 13 December 1862.

Civil War Veterans' Card File, 1861-1866: Age at Enrollment: 23; Occupation: Clerk; Residence: Pittsburgh, Pa.; Hair: Brown; Eyes: Brown; Complexion: Fair; Height: 5'8" Remarks: Enlisted in Company A. 9th Res. Trans. to Company L. 62nd. Reg. and Pro. to 2nd Lt. 12-11-61 to 1st Lt. 7-21-62, to Adjt. (10-28-62 Bates) Killed at Fredericksburg, Va. 12-13-62. Rolls spell first name James.

Adjutant Samuel K. Forsyth

Promoted from Sgt. Major, 19 March 1863; Discharged on Surgeon's certificate, 30 June 1863.

Civil War Veterans' Card File, 1861-1866: Age at Enrollment: 25; Occupation: Painter; Residence: Allegheny County, Pa.; Hair: Fair; Eyes: Gray; Complexion: Fair; Height: 5'11": Remarks: Trans. from Company A. Pro. to Sgt. Major (Date Unknown) Trans. to Adjt. 3-19-63 Dis. S.C. of D.

Adjutant John E. Myers
portrait of Adt. John E. Myers

Promoted from 1st Lt., Co. C, 30 June 1863, Killed at Spottsylvania C. H., 12 May 1864; Buried at Wilderness burial ground [Fredericksburg National Cemetery].

Civil War Veterans' Card File, 1861-1866: Age: 22; Occupation: Miller; Residence: Clarion, Pa.; Hair: Black; Eyes: Gray; Complexion: Fair; Height: 5'8"; Remarks: Pro. 1st Sgt. 11-12-61 to 1st Lt. 9-10-62 Trans from Company C. Pro to Adjt. 6-20-63. Killed in Action at Laurel Hill, Va. 5-13-64. (Burried [sic] in Wilderness Burial Ground. Bates) [last name spelled Myers on card]

Name spelled Meyers by Bates. Myers is name on pension index card. That his pension claim was filed by his mother would be a strong indication that he was unmarried.

Quartermaster Andrew T. Howden

Promoted from 2nd Lieutenant of Company M, 21 August 1861. Mustered out with company, 13 July 1864.

Surgeon James Kerr

Mustered out with company, 13 July 1864.

Civil War Veterans' Card File, 1861-1866: [No personal information provided.]

According to census records, Dr. Kerr lived in Birmingham, Pa., before and after the war. He is listed there in both the 1860 and 1870 Census as a medical doctor, and would have been 47 when he joined the regiment. His wife's name is listed as Harriet in 1860 and as Harrietta in 1870. They had three children. All in the family were born in Pennsylvania.

Pension filed by his widow, Harriet L. Kerr, in July 1892.

Asst. Surgeon Joseph H. Webb

Resigned, 12 September 1862.

Asst. Surgeon Thaddeus S. Gardner

Mustered into service 2 August 1862. Promoted to Surgeon, 17th Pennsylvania Cavalry (162d Volunteers), 23 October 1863. Resigned on 6 April 1864.

Asst. Surgeon Wallace D. Martin

Mustered into service 17 March 1863. According to Bates, he resigned October 9, 1863. According to CWVCF, he was dismissed for desertion 23 September 1863.

Civil War Veterans' Card File, 1861-1866: [No personal information provided]; Remarks: Dismissed for Desertion 9-23-63. No further record available.

The New York TImes, published on 28 November 1863, included court-martial reports from the Army and Navy Gazette, Nov. 24. Included among "Findings of Courts-Martial" for dismissal with suspension of pay: "Assistant Surgeon WALLACE D. MARTIN, Sixty-second Pennsylvania Voluuteers, to date Sept. 23, 1863, for desertion."

Asst. Surgeon Joseph F. Wilson

Mustered into service 23 October 1863. According to the invalid pension record he filed, he also served as an Asst. Surgeon for an "Indpt. Batt'n Pa. Mil."

Died 10 August 1898, according to Proceedings of the 31st Annual Encampment of the Department of Pennsylvania Grand Army of the Republic (Wilkes-Barre, 1899).

Asst. Surgeon Philip M. Zeigler

Mustered into service, 6 November 1863 ; Mustered out with company, 13 July 1864.

Zeigler was born in Lebanon county on 11 January 1834, a fourth generation Swiss-American. He was well educated in the classics and the medical sciences, attending Mt. Joy Academy, Litiz Academy and the Pennsylvania Medical School, all before the war. After the war, he applied for a commission as surgeon in the regular army, but before the commission arrived, he purchased the drug store in Reading, and resigned his commission when it finally arrived. He continued in the pharmacy trade for more than forty-two years. He was also very active in the Reading Hospital and served for a time as its treasurer and manager. He married Sarah Ann McFarland on 13 July 1871, and they had two children, Howard and Stella. Dr. Ziegler was a Presbyterian, and helped found the Olivet Church in Reading.

Chaplain James F. Read

Resigned 2 March 1862.

Civil War Veterans' Card File, 1861-1866: Residence: Allegheny, Pa. [No other personal information provided.] Remarks: Resigned 3-2-62. No further record available. Rolls spell last name Read.

Bates spells last name as Reed. Pension index card (invalid pension filed by his attorney 2 April 1895) and a Minsiterial Directory both indicate the correct spelling of the last name was Read.

The Ministerial directory: of the ministers in the Presbyterian Church in the United States (Southern), and in the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (Northern), 1898, vol 1. p.447-8, indicates that Read was born in Shouldham, Thorpe, England, in 1810, so he would have been 50 or 51 when he joined the 62d. A licensed Methodist pastor in England, he came to Philadelphia in 1840 and was ordained in 1842. He was pastor of several churches in Pennsylvania before and after the war. After he resigned as chaplain, he became pastor in Union City, Pa. He honorably retired in 1866.

According to Samuel W. Durant's History of Allegheny Co., Pennsylvania (1876), Rev. James F. Read, D.D., was pastor of the Birmingham Presbyterian Church (now South Side Presbyterian Church), from November 1858 to November 1862. He apparently took a leave of absence to serve as chaplain with the 62d.

Chaplain Albert G. Williams

Mustered into service, 24 July 1862; Resigned December 4, 1862.

According to the website of the Monongehela First Methodist Church, Albert G. Williams was pastor of the Union Church, a forerunner of the First Methodist, from 1856 to 1857.

According to Boyd Crumrine's History of Washington County, Pennsylvania (1882), Rev. Albert G. Williams served as pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Washington, Pa., from 1858 to 1859.

Western Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church records also indicate that Albert G. Williams was minister or the East Liberty/Wilkinsburg church from 1862 to 1863.

Sergeant-Major Charles Seager
portrait of Sergeant Major Charles Seager

Mustered into service, 22 July 1861; Promoted from Sgt, Co. F, 8 December 1861; Discharged on Surgeon's certificate, 10 December 1862.

Sergeant-Major Samuel Kennedy

Promoted to Adj., 103d reg. P.V., 9 February 1862.

Sergeant-Major Watson H. Guthrie

Promoted from Sgt., Co. I, 14 December 1863. Mustered out with company, 13 July 1864.

Civil War Veterans' Card File, 1861-1866: Age at Enrollment: 22; Occupation: Carpenter; Residence: Punxsutawney, Pa.; Hair: Light; Eyes: Blue; Complexion: Light; Height: 5'10"; Remarks: Promoted to Corp. 8-10-61. Trans. from Company I. & Pro. to Sgt. Major 12-14-62.

His widow, Margaret E. Guthrie, filed a pension claim on 10 July 1890.

Quartermaster's Sergeant Walther Fleninken (first name also listed as Walter)

Discharged on Surgeon's certificate, date unknown.

Quartermaster's Sergeant George S. Campbell

Mustered out with company, 13 July 1864.

Civil War Veterans' Card File, 1861-1866: Age at Enrollment: 30; Occupation: Lumberman; Residence: Punxsutawney, Pa.; Hair: Black; Eyes: Gray; Complexion: Dark; Height: 5'6 1/2"; Remarks: Trans. from Company I. Pro. to Q.M. Sgt. (date unknown).

Commissary-Sergeant George E. Berger

Began as a private in Company I. Promoted to 1st Lt, Company K., 9 February 1864. Mustered out with company, 13 July 1864.

Civil War Veterans' Card File, 1861-1866: Age at Enrollment: 28; Occupation: Shoemaker; Residence: Pittsburgh; Hair: Gray; Eyes: Blue; Complexion: Dark; Height: 5'10" Remarks: Enlisted in Company I. Pro. to Com. Sgt. 8-4-61. Trans to Company K. & Pro. to 1st Lt. 2-9-64.

Born in 1833, he was living with his wife in Pittsburgh in 1910. Died 21 January 1913. He is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Wilkinsburg. His widow was Hannah M. Berger.

Commissary-Sergeant Joseph O'Brien

Promoted from Sgt., Co. G, 22 March 1864. Mustered out with company, 13 July 1864.

Civil War Veterans' Card File, 1861-1866: Age at Enrollment: 20; Occupation: Clerk; Residence: Pittsburgh; Hair: Brown; Eyes: Black; Complexion: Fair; Height: 5'7" Remarks: Trans. from Company G (Pro. to Com Sgt. 3-22-64 Bates) [last name spelled O'Brein in CWVCF]

Hospital Steward Ernest G. Krehan

Mustered into service, 22 July 1861. Promoted on 5 August 1861, from Private, Company B. Mustered out with company, 13 July 1864.

Sources

Bates, Samuel Penniman. History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-5. Volume III. Harrisburg: B. Singerly, state printer, 1869-71.

Marks, James J. The Peninsula campaign in Virginia : or, Incidents and scenes on the battlefields and in Richmond. Lippincott, 1864.

Moorhead, Elizabeth. Whirling spindle: the story of a Pittsburgh family. University of Pittsburgh Press, 1946.
    Written by Sam Black's granddaughter, this memoir includes some insightful biographical information about the colonel

Wilson, Erasmus, edior. Standard History of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Chicago: H.R. Cornell, 1898.

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