|
The 79th Pennsylvania Infantry, also known as the Lancaster Rifles, was recruited and organized in Lancaster, Pennsylvania by Henry A. Hambright and mustered into service on September 19, 1861. The regiment was commanded by Colonel Henry A. Hambright. Hambright was born on March 24, 1819 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. During the Mexican War, Hambright was a 1st Lieut. in Company G, 2nd Pennsylvania Infantry. He was also a public works contractor, supervisor of operations in Lancaster for the Pennsylvania Railroad, and Captain of the Jackson Rifles militia company. After mustering into service, the 79th Pennsylvania performed duties in Kentucky and Tennessee, including guarding the Nashville and Decatur Railroad. While in Kentucky and Tennessee, Colonel Hambright drilled the regiment whenever there was an opportunity to do so, which some of the men in the regiment did not appreciate.
On October 1, 1862, the 79th Pennsylvania marched out of Louisville, Kentucky with three days rations and headed Southeast. The brigade was comprised of the 79th Pennsylvania, the 1st Wisconsin and the 24th Illinois Infantry, under Colonel John Starkweather’s brigade. By October 2nd, the 79th Pennsylvania was at Taylorville, Kentucky. By October 6th, the regiment was at Bloomfield and the next day, the regiment was in Mackville and headed towards Springfield. On the morning of October 8, the brigade passed through Mackville and after drawing supplies and fixing breakfast, the men headed on the road to Perryville. The 79th Pennsylvania’s very first battle would be on October 8, at the Battle of Perryville. The 79th Pennsylvania arrived on the field about noon, stacked arms and rested. Colonel Starkweather found his brigade cut off from the left of General Rousseau’s division and positioned his men to the left and slightly back from Union General James S. Jackson’s line and then sent word to Rousseau of his position.
At 2:30 pm, the 79th Pennsylvania marched over the fields and stacked arms at the edge of a dense wood, while their artillery began shelling the Confederates, who appeared on their left. Soon, under the direction of General Rousseau, the 79th Pennsylvania was ordered out of the woods and formed a line of battle.
Union General William Terrill’s brigade took position on a high hilltop in front of Starkweather’s brigade. Parson’s battery and the 123rd Illinois advanced to the Open Knob and at 2:00 pm, Parson’s battery began firing on the Confederates. Union General Lovell Rousseau hoped to protect his brigades from a Confederate attack on his left flank and ordered Union General John Starkweather’s two batteries, under Captain Asahel Bush’s 4th Indiana Battery and Captain David Stone’s 1st Kentucky battery and his infantry, including the 79th Pennsylvania forward to another ridge that extended his second line. According to John B. Chamberlain, the 79th Pennsylvania regiment’s hospital steward and newspaper correspondent, he reported that the 1st Wisconsin and 79th Pennsylvania were ordered to support the battery “and hold that position at all hazards. As the solid, serried ranks of glistening bayonets and brave men moved onward with all regularity and precision of a dress parade, and with the steadiness of veteran troops, the two regiments involuntarily paid a just tribute to the other by sending up long and loud cheers of hearty approval. It was a spontaneous tribute to the others soldierly bravery and appearance. Like twin brothers they marched on side by side and calmly awaited the enemy's onslaught.” The 21st Wisconsin Infantry took up a positon in a cornfield on lower ground. General Rousseau brought up the res no aerve 21st Wisconsin to fill a gap in the infantry support between Starkweather’s batteries and Terrill’s brigade. They were placed in the cornfield at right angles to Starkweather’s main line. Behind the 21st Wisconsin was a stronger main line and faced Confederate General Donelson’s brigade in the valley to the south. Behind the 21st Wisconsin was a stronger main line on the ridge behind them. On the ridge was the 1st Wisconsin, 79th Pennsylvania, and 24th Illinois.
No sooner had Starkweather had placed his infantry, when Donelson’s men struck the right flank of the 79th Pennsylvania and the 24th Illinois Infantry. During the engagement, Starkweather moved Stone’s and Bush’s batteries to the top of the ridge. No sooner had the batteries unlimbered, Maney’s brigade appeared in front of Terrill and Donelson made a second assault on the 79th Pennsylvania. While the attack commenced on the 79th Pennsylvania, Rousseau adjusted the line of Starkweather’s right flank, moving the 79th Pennsylvania back and personally placed the 24th Illinois.
Union General William Terrill’s brigade, comprised of the 123rd Illinois, 105th Ohio, and six companies of the 80th Illinois, were positioned in front of Starkweather’s brigade. The Confederate attack fell on Terrill’s brigade on the Open Knob. Under the assault of Confederate General George Maney’s brigade, Terrill’s brigade collapsed and ran down the hill heading towards Starkweather’s line. Maney’s oncoming Confederates followed Terrill’s retreating men and headed directly into the 21st Wisconsin Infantry in the cornfield. Soon the 21st Wisconsin broke under the crossfire between Maney’s men and friendly fire from Starkweather’s batteries. The 21st Wisconsin ran to the rear. Col. Hambright wrote that he was sickened by the sight of soldiers retreating and running through his regiment’s ranks. The retreating men yelled to Hambright’s men to “give the Rebels a fire, then run,” or they yelled “the Secesh are coming, run for your lives!”
Starkweather’s three regiments, the 1st Wisconsin, the 79th Pennsylvania and 24th Illinois, along with Stone’s and Bush’s batteries, would have to stop two oncoming brigades, namely Confederate General George Maney and Confederate General A. P. Stewart. Colonel Hambright felt as if his regiment stood alone withrtillery support on the hillside. Carnes battery began firing from the left flank and Starkweather decided to move his line back to their position before ordered forward by Rousseau. He planned to move his artillery and then his three infantry regiments. As Hambright moved his men into position, he wrote that the Confederates “opened a most destructive fire on us while moving by the left flank but it had no effect to cause unsteadiness.” Corporal Charles G. Fisher, of Company G, 79th Pennsylvania wrote: “At this point the balls came thick and fast, and the whistling of them I shall never forget. We were all lying flat on the ground and could hear them distinctly. We were then ordered in line, which position we took on the double-quick, under a heavy fire, but before we had a chance to fire a shot, many a one of the glorious 79th fell. There we stood and fired for three hours, as fast as arms could move, without giving way an inch.”
The 1st Tennessee, Maney’s brigade, tried to seize Bush’s battery and clashed with the 1st Wisconsin. The 79th Pennsylvania assisted with an oblique fire, but they began to take casualties as they exchanged fire with the regiment. During the exchange of gunfire, Captain Samuel Boone and Lieutenant Henry Test of Company C, fell dead. Hambright wrote that “the men fell so fast at one time that it required all my efforts to close the lines." Confederate Captain William Carnes battery began firing into the Union lines. Starkweather planned to move his batteries and his infantry back, but before he had the chance, Maney and Stewart’s brigades renewed their attack. Sergeant Marshall of the 79th Pennsylvania wrote: “The Rebels took courage at [the retreat of Starkweather’s batteries] and followed up their advantage with a yell. The 79th was exposed to the whole of their fire.” In response, Marshall wrote that the 79th Pennsylvania delivered such a "raking fire that they scattered in all directions. And then went up a yell such as only Lancaster county can give--well, the fact is, the boys were shouting and cheering and yelling all the time."
During the height of the attack, Marshall wrote that Union General Lovell Rousseau “rode up to us, and waving his hat, said: 'The 79th never leave a stain on old Pennsylvania!' and we answered him with three deafening cheers, and all this during the hottest of the fire. So you can perceive how cool and self-possessed the men were." The colors of the 79th Pennsylvania were “shot away” four times. Col. Hambright and Adjutant Lyman Bodie each took turns borrowing the flag to encourage the regiment, and waved a silk flag that Hambright produced from his coat.
The 1st Wisconsin, which was positioned on the 79th Pennsylvania's immediate left, fought off the 1st Tennessee Infantry in hand-to-hand combat in order to save Bush’s battery. In the smoke of battle, the 79th Pennsylvania perceived a dark blue Hardee flag as a "black flag" and assumed the Confederates were under a take-no-prisoners policy, which only hardened their nerves. As the 1st Wisconsin counterattacked, Col. Hambright swung his two leftmost companies, Companies B and G, out to "pour a cross fire that perfectly withered the advancing files of rebels." One Confederate regiment, assumed to be the 1st Tennessee Infantry, left their flag behind as they fled and the 1st Wisconsin picked up the flag and claimed credit for the flag’s capture. Years later, Sergeant John Durham of the 1st Wisconsin received the Medal of Honor for retrieving the flag.
Casualties began to mount in the 79th Pennsylvania. Corporal Fisher described the losses. He wrote: Many, many a man fell by the balls of the 79th, and our ranks suffered severely as the accounts will show. My right-hand man was wounded; my rear man also. H. Snyder and H. Young, both next me on the left, were wounded and fell, and I was left alone for awhile. There were sixteen wounded in our company. D. Leonard was slightly wounded in the hip, the ball going through his cartridge box; but he still kept blazing away”
After repulsing the series of Confederate attacks and allowing the Bush’s and Stone’s batteries time to be safely removed, Starkweather's line was able to move back to their second position. The 1st Wisconsin, 79th Pennsylvania, and 24th Illinois stood behind a low stonewall on a steeper, higher ridge. By this point, Maney’s men were tired and exhausted and no longer had the energy to continue the fight.
On October 10, 1862, William T. Clark of the 79th Pennsylvania wrote about the aftermath of the battle: “This morning I am walking over the battlefield. Here I see men & horses lying together & loyal and Secesh lying together in the position they fell shows how fierce the contest raged, on the left wing especially seems to be where the hottest of the fight took place, where they hoisted the Black Flag. They were piled in heaps. Our men are nearly all buried. Today the guns are being taken off the field. . . . In one pen of rails I saw 18 dead rebels, one of whom had not been shot more than 10 minutes. He was a Spy in our camp. The dead & dying are in every house.” Four days after the battle, Clark wrote that he and Sergeant Blickensderfer visited some of the hospitals to see their wounded. He saw Thomas Wesley, of Company H, 79th Pennsylvania, mortally wounded. He wrote that one of Company H’s men had been accidentally shot in the thigh and they took his leg off. The next day, Clark wrote that all large houses in Perryville were occupied as hospitals for the wounded, both rebel and Union. On October 13, Clark went to the Tucker House, which was converted into a field hospital. He wrote that the wounded of the 79th Pennsylvania was at the house that were not able to be transported to Louisville, Kentucky. He wrote that “spring wagons of every description are being sent here for the wounded by General [Jeremiah} Boyle [military district commander for Kentucky] to carry the wounded thither. The chimneys are knocked off some of the houses, some of them having 4 & 5 cannon balls through them. The wagons did not come to take us & we are quartered in a house close to the river bank & near a hospital occupied by rebels. Strange how soon circumstances alters the feelings of men toward one another. Only a few days ago we were engaged in deadly conflict with each other (loyal against Rebel). Now we are doing all we can to alleviate their sufferings.”
The 79th Pennsylvania would fight at the battles of Stones River, Tennessee, Chickamauga, Georgia, the battle of Chattanooga, the battle of Resaca, the battle of Kennesaw Mountain, the siege of Atlanta, Sherman’s March of the Sea, the Carolinas Campaign, and the Battle of Bentonville. Colonel Hambright continued to fight with the 79th Pennsylvania throughout the war, until 1865, but he was absent from the regiment for most of 1864 and 1865, due to ill health. After the Civil War, Hambright was a major in U.S. Army, serving on various military posts including Texas and Louisiana. He retired in 1879 and died on February 19, 1893 and buried in the Lancaster Cemetery.
|
