Chapter 103 - Returning Home

CHAPTER CIII

Thursday, June 8th., we left camp at about 8 o’clock, a. m., having given good bye to the remaining members of the regiment, and in company with H and F Companies, we marched to the Depot in Washington City, where we awaited transportation.

Four of the members of our company viz: Henry Brown, Peter H. Huffer, Francis Smith and Edward Smith who were not embraced in the General Orders by which we were discharged on account of having enlisted after a certain date in 1862 were transferred to Company E.

Peter R. Hoffer met with a serious loss soon after being transferred to the other company, he having his pocket book taken out of his tent, during the night after the day on which he had been paid off.

We awaited transportation until almost 4 o’clock p. m., during which we had a very pleasant wait of it, the hours being enlivened by the antics of the men who had already begun to feel the rigor of army discipline relaxed, and were beginning to ascer­tain the fact that after a lapse of thirty-three months of abject servitude, that they were free once more.

In walking in the direction of an Ice Cream and refreshment stand we were halted by a guard, who upon an inspection turned out to be William Henry Harrison Shiffer, formerly a member of our company but now a member of Company C, 18^th Veteran Reserve Corps, to which he had been transferred in August 1863 from our company.

After expressing our mutual surprise at meeting him here, we said:

“Well, Bawly, wie gehts?”

“Oh, gude, wann es net furh den ohrum wer,” was Bawly’s old stero-typed expression.

At four o’clock, we were ordered on the train, and soon were speeding in the direction of Baltimore, which place we reached in due time.

We marched from the Baltimore and Ohio Depot through the city to the Northern Central Depot.

At about 10 o’clock, a. m., we again heard the welcome order, “all aboard” and soon were on our way homeward.  We reached Harrisburg at about half past one o’clock, a. m.  We remained on the other side of the river until 2 o’clock, when we moved over the old camel-back bridge and marched thro’ the triumphal arch which was erected on Market St., and about daylight marched into Camp Curtin.

We at once proceeded to put up our shelter tents after which most of us spread down our blankets and took a short nap.

When we awoke and looked around us, what a change had come over the place during the time when first we entered the camp in 1862.  We took a walk to where our company had first been quart­ered, we could readily locate the place where the officers tent had stood, as well as many of the other tents, from all of which, one or more of their members, had sealed their devotion to their country’s cause by their heart’s best blood.  Standing on the “Old Camp Ground” we called the company roll, and the following named members failed to respond for the reasons assigned:

Capt. C. S. Davis, killed in battle,

Lt. W. H. Schroyer, died of injury,

O. O. Hall, died of small pox

Serg’t I. D. Witmer, killed,

Serg’t Lloyd, discharged for disability,

Corp. Gross, in hospital,

Corp. Shrawder, trans. to regulars,

Corp. Malick, discharged for disability,

Corp. Bower, in hospital from wounds,

Corp. VonNeida, trans. for wounds,

Serg’t. Henry W. Baker, died,

Serg’t. Townsend, discharged, wounded,

Bastian, Joseph F., deserter,

Bingaman, John F., in hospital,

Churchill, Asa B., killed in battle,

Doebler, H. J., absent, wounded,

Ehrhart, Daniel, died of wounds,

Fausnacht, W.E., absent wounded,

Grant, Chas., killed in battle,

Haas, John P., killed in battle,

Hathaway, Jeremiah, died of wounds,

Hafley, U.P., transferred to Invalids,

Holler, Peter, transferred,

Kreamer, Henry, transferred to vet. res.,

Knarr, Franklin, missed in action,

Kreamer, D.W., trans. to Invalids,

Lahr, Daniel, deserted,

Long, John C., trans. Wounded,

Mull, John, wounded, in hospital,

Miller, Reuben, missed in action,

Matter, John, died,

Marks, Cyrus, deserted,

McFall, Win. H., discharged for wounds,

Noll, Elias, in hospital wounded,

Schroyer, Lewis C., died,

Seesholtz, Win. E. , died of wounds,

Swartz, John W., deserted,

Shearer, Jacob, discharged for disa’ty,

Sholly, Adam S.     “                   “

Shaffer, Michael S., wounded, discharged,

Shiffer, W.H., transferred to vet. res.,

Ulrich, Lot, absent,

Waughen, Win. H., deserted.

Thus 42 men out of the original 93 members of the company who left Camp Curtin failed to return with us.  Of the 51 present, 16 more had been wounded and 3 taken prisoner.

Well may we say, that when we took a retrospective view of the past, that our spirits were sadly depressed, as we thought of the fate of those who had fallen by our side on the gory field of battle, and also of those who would be maimed for life, and unconsciously the tears ran down our cheeks, as we tho’t of the hearts that would bleed afresh by our appearance in their midst, and by the absence of their loved ones, who had perished that the Union of our fore fathers might be preserved.

During the day we strolled through the city, visited some of our old loafing places, met a few of our old acquaintances, but as a general thing we found new men in the old places.  We did not forget to visit White Hall Saloon, tried to pawn a watch until we would draw our pay, but did not succeed.

During the day a number of Selingsgrovers arrived at Harrisburg, and we spent a few hours very pleasantly.  In the afternoon, hearing that we would be paid off, we visited the river in a body, and at the old place, we bathed ourselves, as if determined to wash away all the impurities of the past, and to commence life anew.

Towards evening we were paid off, each one of us receiving between three and four hundred dollars.

As fast as we received our pay, we slung our knapsacks, took our greenbacks and made tracks for the city.  After stopping at one of the numerous hotels, the boys started out and purchased clothing, some of them paying sixty and eighty dollars for a single suit.  The Jews who kept the stores roped the boys in lively.

It was really amusing to see the boys in citizens clothing, after having been accustomed to see them in Uncle Sam’s clothing for the past three years.

After having cast away the army blue, the boys divided up in squads to suit themselves and then following the bent of their own inclinations, fully determined upon making a night of it, how the time was passed is best known to the boys them­selves.  Suffice it to say that many of them did not return to their hotels until morning, some of them even did not get back until night.

Monday, June 12, 1865.  This is a day that never will be forgotten by the members of old company G, it being the day that we left Harrisburg for our respective homes.  During the forenoon the boys had things pretty much their own way, and quite a number succeeded in getting under a tolerable head of steam.

Immediately after dinner the company began to assemble at the depot and by means of details sent out to gather up the missing ones, the officers succeeded in getting the men all on board the train, en route for Selinsgrove.  We reached Selins­grove Junction in due time.

We left the cars, and as soon as we reached terra firma, and facing westward, the home of our childhood burst upon us like a golden vision. One of the boys proposed “three Cheers of Selinsgrove,” which were given with a will and the “tiger” added.

The ferryman had a large flat over on the other side, and by which means we were all brought over at one time.  The western bank of the river was literally jammed with those who were anxiously awaiting our arrival.

As the flat reached the shore, some one proposed “three cheers for the boys of Company G,” which were given in an enthusiastic manner.  After which we disembarked.

It is an utter impossibility for us to attempt to describe the scene that followed.  Husbands and wives, mothers and sons, fathers and children, lovers and sweethearts, all clinging to the loved ones, crying, laughing and shouting, and frequently all combined, made the scene one never to be forgotten by those who were the participants in the scene.

After order was partly restored out of the hub-bub and con­fusion, the men “fell in” and marched to town.  By common consent we marched in a body to the New Lutheran Cemetery, and with uncovered heads stood before the grave of our first captain, the brave and gallant CHAS. S. DAVIS. who lost his life while nobly leading the company in a charge on the enemy at Taylor’s Ridge.

From here we marched down front street, to the residence of Mr. Wm. F. Eckbert, here old Company G broke ranks for the last time. Mr. Eckbert and his estimable lady had prepared a bounteous repast, and the members of the company filed into the room, and did ample justice to the good things placed before us.

After the supper, the boys from the upper end of the county, left in rigs which had arrived for them, those who resided in the neighborhood sought their homes, where kind friends awaited them, and thus ended the greatest and most joyous epoch in the history of our lives, and with it came the official termination of Company G.

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Thus ends the brief and unvarnished recital of the history of Company G.      That it contained a number of inaccuracies; no one knows better than we do but when we state that most of it was prepared from memory, aid­ed by several incomplete and conflict­ing diaries, all will agree that it is the best that could be done, for in the main it is truthful, as the members of the company will all affirm.  With this short apology we bid the readers of Company G, adieu.