William Henry Christman was born in Lehigh County, the second son of Jonas and Mary Anna’ “ (Albitz) Christman. Baptismal records indicate he was born on October 1, 1844; however, his Army enlistment lists his birth date as 1843. On March 25, 1864, William enlisted in Easton and was mustered in as a Private on the same day. He was twenty-one years old, single, and worked as a laborer in Easton. William is described as being five feet, seven and one-half inches tall with a florid complexion, grey eyes, and sandy hair. He had a scar on his left neck and three moles on his back. As an enlistee, he received a cash bonus of $60 and a government promissory note in the amount of $300.

Christman joined the 67^th PA Volunteer Infantry. His unit included recruits from Allegheny, Carbon, Clarion, Indiana, Jefferson, Monroe, Northampton, Pike, Schuylkill, Wayne, and Westmoreland counties as well as from the city of Philadelphia. During the War, the 67^th Volunteers lost 77 enlisted men in battle and 150 men lost to disease.

Shortly after enlisting, William sent a letter to his parents dated April 3, 1864. He wrote from “Camp Cat valenter” near Philadelphia that he “likes it very good we have enuph to eat ant drink ant more we don’t want for this present time.”  He continued by asking his father to put all his “papers” in his trunk to keep them for his return. In closing he wrote “please excuse my poor riting for I hafte write on my plait So I can’t write as good as I ate.”

By the end of April, Christman had been hospitalized with the measles. On May 1^st, he was transferred to Lincoln General Hospital north of Washington D. C. This hospital was built solely to care for Civil War casualties and was dismantled after 1865. William died here of peritonitis, a toxic inflammation of the abdomen, on May 11^th.  His personal effects included one hat, two flannel shirts, a pair of trousers, one blanket, a haversack, and a canteen.

Two days later, on May 13^th, 1864, William Christman was the first man to be buried in the unnamed cemetery at “Arlington House” the abandoned estate of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. When Lee resigned from the U.S. Army to take command of the Army of Northern Virginia,  the United States government seized his estate located across the Potomac River from Washington D.C. The decision to buy Union soldiers on the two hundred acre site was intended to discourage Lee from ever returning to his home there. It was on June 15, 1864 that Secretary of War Edwin M. Staunton formally named Arlington as a National Cemetery.

Today the Cemetery totals six hundred twenty four acres divided into seventy sections. Several sections are designated for veterans of a specific war; one section honors women who served in the military; another section holds the remains of freedmen, former slaves. Another area includes the bodies of Confederate soldiers, whose peaked headstones differ from the simple rounded stones used throughout other parts of the Cemetery.

Christman’s grave is in section 27. His simple headstone bears his name “William Christman PA #19. This number may be the result of the many re-numberings of the gravesites over the years. Although he was in the Army for only forty-eight days and apparently was never in a major engagement, his enlistment card has had the words “DISTINGUISHED SERVICE” added.

- Submitted by Elaine Greek

Young men who volunteered for service in either the Union or Confederate forces were often farm boys. These boys who had lived in relative isolation were now massed together in training camps with thousands of others. Due to the crowded conditions, bad food, and poor sanitation, many young men died before ever reaching a battlefield.  For an army regiment of one thousand men, there was usually one doctor who had been appointed by the governor of the state represented by the young recruits. The doctor was assisted by an assistant, a medical undergraduate, and a steward who did the clerical work of keeping records, recording diagnoses and prescriptions, mixing the needed prescriptions, and then distributing the prescriptions to the men in camp. Many of the common drugs of the day were arsenic, laudanum, and emetics which are recognized as poisons today. It is recorded that 420,000 men died of disease and diarrhea during the War.

The Sigal Museum has arm splints made of wire and paper and a wooden traction leg splint on display in the special Civil War exhibit. These medical artifacts were the property of Surgeon Dr. Jacob Ludlow, a Lt. Colonel in the 1^st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. Family tradition says that Dr. Ludlow treated General Ulysses S. Grant after the Battle of Vicksburg.  Mrs. David Ludlow is the donor of these items. In the permanent collection at the Museum, there is a surgeon’s case of varying size saws used for amputations. This case belonged to Dr. Jabez Gwinnup of Belvidere, NJ and was donated to the Sigal Museum by Samuel L. Beatty and Ralph Coopersmith.

Dr. Jonathan Letterman,  a career (U.S.) Army surgeon serving since 1849, is recognized as the Father of Modern Battlefield Medicine. In 1862 following the Battle  of Manassas (known as Bull Run in the North), Dr. Letterman revamped the Army Medical Corps. As head of Medical Services for the Army of the Potomac, he decreed that each soldier bathe once a week for fifteen minutes; fruits and vegetables must be added to the Army diet four times a week; and sanitary facilities must be improved in the camp sites. Dr. Letterman commandeered quartermaster wagons, used to haul ammunition and supplies, and outfitted them as ambulances for the wounded. He trained ambulance drivers and stretcher bearers.  He established what is known today as Triage. Field Dressing or Aid Stations where wounds were bandaged and tourniquets applied were set up near a battlefield. The wounded were then sent to a Field Hospital, often a nearby house or barn, for emergency treatment or surgery (similar to today’s MASH unit.) Bullet wounds could be successfully treated and many soldiers returned to duty. Amputations of arms or legs were common. Wounds to the chest or head were beyond the skill of Civil War physicians. Large hospitals for long term care were established away from the battlefield.

Physicians from both sides treated both Union and Confederate wounded. Following a battle, surgeons would often share medications and supplies with their counterparts on the opposing side. In 1864, when General Ulysses S. Grant was appointed commander of the Union forces, he no longer permitted Union doctors to treat the Confederate wounded.

-Submitted by C.Elaine Greek

• JOHN P. K. KOHLER, ASSISTANT SURGEON: In 1859, he graduated from Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and the University of Pennsylvania Medical School in Philadelphia in 1862. In September 1862, he was initially put in charge of all of the hospitals at Camp Curtin, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. On October 26, 1862, he was appointed as an assistant surgeon in the 153rd. Stricken with typhoid fever, he was sent to the XI Corps Hospital in Brooke's Station, Virginia, and then furloughed home on sick leave. He remained on sick leave until just before the Battle of Gettysburg, when, despite not fully recovering from his illness, he reported to duty at a military hospital in Harrisburg, where he remained until he was mustered out of service on July 23, 1863. He never recovered from his bout of typhoid fever, as he died on May 27, 1866, of the disease in Egypt, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania.

Little Master Bobby

Jacob Haas became quite adept at throwing his voice. At the age of nineteen, Haas made his dummy “Master Bobby” and began entertaining locally. “Bobby”, made of papier mache and wood measuring between thirty-four and forty-two inches, fits the parameters for professional dummies of the period. Beginning in 1850, Haas took his “Bobby”  show on the road for eleven years traveling through the New England and Middle Atlantic states.

Then in August 1862, Haas enlisted for nine months in the 129^th Volunteer Infantry. He began keeping detailed diaries of his days as a soldier in the Civil War. He wrote of the cold and the hunger, the long marches, and the endless canteens of coffee. He chronicled the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. He was discharged from the Army in Harrisburg in May 1863.

Within a few months in February 1864, Haas re-enlisted in the 51^st Regiment, Company B,  9^th Army Corps of Pennsylvania Volunteers. He fought in several major battles as the war wound down. In his diary, Haas noted the Confederate reconnaissance balloons observing the Union Army positions. He was present at Lee’s surrender at Appomattox and mustered out in Virginia on July 27, 1865.

Haas returned to Easton and resumed his ventriloquism career. His expense accounts indicate that in January of 1866, he returned to show business where he was known professionally as “Professor.”  He performed with several different circuses traveling across the country to California and later to Canada.

When he could no longer travel, Haas returned to Easton and performed throughout the surrounding counties with his “talking dolls” and Punch and Judy show. His last public appearance was in Bangor, PA in 1908. Jacob Haas died on March 23, 1921 in Easton in his 89^th year.

-Submitted by Elaine Greek

Mrs. Andrew H. Reeder was President of the Easton Sanitary Society during the Civil War.In 1861 and 1862, individual families rushed to supply their soldier. Wives, mothers, and sweethearts gathered medical supplies, clothing, and blankets to send their loved ones. Soldiers with no family at home or those of poorer circumstances were left without support. Women soon realized that by banding together they could do more to help their local boys serving in the military. This logic lead to the formation of Ladies’ Aid Societies, sometimes called soldiers’ aid societies. The many aid societies across the North and in the West eventually organized as the Women’s Central Association of Relief.

Amelia Hutter Reeder (Mrs. Andrew H.), pictured here, served as President of the Easton Sanitary Aid Society. Mrs. Reeder had three sons fighting for the North during the War. Under her leadership, bandages were rolled and medical supplies were collected. Fairs, picnics, and pageants were important fund raising events.  The women collected cash donations, knitted socks, and made clothing for the troops. Clean clothes were vital to the health of the men, and the packages from home brought comfort to the often tired and footsore soldiers.

A few women followed their soldier-husbands to war. These women worked as laundresses, nursed the wounded, mended the men’s clothes, or cooked. They were soldiers in all respects, including the hardships, except they had no formal training. One husband and wife team from Pennsylvania worked together in the hospitals of Maryland and Virginia. One Southern woman, who accompanied her husband, was known as “Mother of the Regiment” for the care she gave the Confederates.

Both the North and the South forbade the enlistment of women into the army. However, some women cut their hair, assumed men’s names, and disguised themselves to pass as men. The Cavalry was a popular branch for these women soldiers as it was an informal unit with looser discipline than the regular Army. Their true sex became known only when the women were so severely wounded as to be hospitalized. Many survived the entire war without discovery.

Other women served both armies as spies or smugglers, concealing weapons, drugs, on medicines in their luggage or in their clothing. Women could also carry messages in their elaborate hair styles. Several generals employed women as couriers, scouts, or spies reporting on troop positions or movements. A young African American woman, employed as a servant in the home of Confederate
President Jefferson Davis, passed important information to Union authorities. Another African American laundress in a Confederate camp would transmit messages to the Union Army by the arrangement of laundry on the clothesline.

The management, organizational, and accounting skills learned by the women on the home front would prove valuable after the Civil War as women entered into politics and fought for the right to vote.

- Submitted by Elaine Greek

Daniel Dachrodt Later in Life Posing with his Civil War Drum

John Dachrodt, a butcher in early Easton, and his wife, Julia, were the proud parents of three daughters and six sons.  Four of their boys are documented as serving in the Union Army during the Civil War. All four returned safely to Easton where each worked as a butcher—following in their father’s footsteps.

William, the eldest son, volunteered for a nine month enlistment in October of 1862. He was a Private in the 153^rd Pennsylvania Volunteers, Company E and served until July of 1863. In September of that same year, William re-enlisted for a three year period. He joined the 180^th Regulars, Company C of the 19^th
Cavalry. He was mustered out in May of 1866 and returned to Easton where he opened a butcher shop at 237 Northampton Street.

Jacob Dachrodt was the most successful of the brothers. Eight days following the firing on Fort Sumter, he volunteered for three months and was elected Captain of the First Pennsylvania Volunteers, Company B of the Infantry serving until July, 1861. When President Lincoln called for additional troops, Jacob re-enlisted on October 11, 1862 as a Lieutenant Colonel in the 153^rd Pennsylvania Volunteers. After being wounded at the Battle of Chancellorsville, he was discharged from the Army in July 1863. At that time, he returned to Easton and opened a butcher shop at 4^th and Ferry Streets in what is now known as the Parsons-Taylor House. He and his wife resided at 903 Northampton Street.  In 1886, Jacob campaigned as an Independent and won a seat in the Pennsylvania State Senate. He held this office from 1887 to 1890.

John, the fourth Dachrodt son, enlisted for a three month period in April, 1861. He was a Private in the First Pennsylvania Volunteers, Company B of the Infantry. This was the same regiment and company in which his brother, Jacob, was a Captain. He served until July 1861 also the same time span as his brother.  After the Civil War, he became a butcher in Easton.

Daniel, the fifth boy, joined Company H of the 47^th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry in August 1861 as a drummer in the regimental band.  Records indicate that Daniel re-enlisted in December 1862 and in less than a year, he was appointed “Principal Musician” of his regiment.  When Daniel was discharged in December 1865,   he returned to Easton.  He opened a butcher shop at 6^th and Northampton Streets and lived at 136 South 4^th Street. His last public concert with his drum was in August 1939.

-Submitted by Elaine Greek

Both the U.S. Army and the Confederates were desperate for weapons at the start of the Civil War in 1861. Early volunteers were often issued antique, imported, or nearly obsolete weapons. Chief among the older model muskets was the 1842 Springfield with its 42inch long barrel. This weapon fired a .69 caliber lead ball plus 3 small buckshot.  General Ulysses S. Grant, in his Memoire, observed that, using this weapon, “you might fire at a man all day…..without him finding it out.”

The principal small arms issued by both sides was the “Springfield” manufactured at the U. S. Armory in Springfield, Massachusetts. This weapon has a 39inch rifled barrel and fired a .58 caliber bullet. With the rifling in the barrel, the firing range and accuracy of this weapon increased to a distance of 500 yards. The Sigal Museum of the Northampton County Historical and Genealogical Society has an 1862 Springfield rifle on display in the special Civil War gallery. This rifle was used by William Daub of the 47^th Regiment PA volunteers. It is on loan from the private collection of L. Anderson and Carolyn Daub. The Fayetteville Rifle and the Richmond Rifle were two inferior Confederate copies of the Springfield.

A major foreign import for both the North and the South was the British “Enfield” rifle. This weapon fired a .577 caliber bullet at the same distance as the Springfield. The ammunition was interchangeable between the two rifles. Over 700,000 English Enfields were imported by the Confederates during the war.  An early Enfield marked “1861 Tower” from the Tower of London Armory can be seen in the Civil War gallery at the Sigal Museum. In July of 1863, Colonel Joshua Chamberlain, commander of the 20^th Maine Regiment, observed abandoned Springfield rifles around his position on Little Round Top, Gettysburg. He ordered his men to exchange their Enfields for the abandoned Springfields.

The development of the “minie ball” in 1848 by French Captain Claude F. Minie gave riflemen greater accuracy   as well as greater firing distance. By 1855, the U. S. Army had perfected a cheaper version of the “minie ball” which became the standard bullet used by both Northern and Southern troops.

Christopher Miner Spencer designed and patented a seven shot rifle and carbine in 1860. His re-designed and “perfected” model was patented in 1862. Seven Spencer rimfire cartridges in a tubular magazine would be inserted into the butt stock of the rifle.  A lever action automatically ejected the empty shell and slid a new cartridge into position. These repeating rifle were often picked up on the battlefield by Confederate soldiers; however, they were useless as the Confederates had no ammunition to fit this new rifle.  The Spencer Rifle shown in the permanent military collection at the Sigal Museum has a 25inch barrel. The rifle is displayed with the magazine partially out, the lever in ejection position, and the side lock cocked to fire.

The principal weapon of the Civil War cavalry was the short barreled carbine. In production since the 1850s, the Sharps carbine was popular with both Confederate and Union forces. The breech loading mechanism allowed a mounted trooper to hold the carbine under his arm and against his body while using only one hand to fire up to 5 shots per minute. The South made copies of the Sharps carbine which General Robert E Lee described as “so defective as to be demoralizing to our men.”

Ambrose Everett Burnside designed and patented a carbine in 1856 at his factory in Rhode Island. With the onset of the Civil War, Burnside enlisted with the Rhode Island Volunteers and was appointed Major General. His factory produced over 55,000 Burnside carbines for the war effort as well as Spencer carbines, a shorter version of the Spencer Rifle. The Burnside carbine displayed in the special Civil War area of the Sigal Museum is marked with the 1856 patent and “Cast Steel 1862” indicating that the carbine was manufactured in the last quarter of 1862.  When new, this weapon sold for $30. Mrs. Stanley Stone donated the Burnside carbine to the Museum.

A  Navy revolver, used by Captain William Raphael of Easton serving with the 28^th Regiment PA volunteers, is shown in the permanent military collection of the Sigal Museum.  Named for the naval battle scene engraved on the cylinder, this six shot revolver fired .36 caliber bullets. Though first used in 1851, this weapon was popular with the cavalry throughout the Civil War.

In the special gallery on the second floor of the Sigal Museum, there are two antique pistols. The Forehand and Wadsworth pistol was manufactured in Worcester, Massachusetts. A Smith and Wesson pistol, patented in 1860,was manufactured in Springfield, Massachusetts. Unfortunately, no further information is available for these two artifacts.

-Submitted by Elaine Greek

Captain Harry Young of Company H Glantz’s Regiment, who was so severely wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg, that he was reported dead- and has been suffering the most intense pain ever since in consequence of the bullet not being removed, was operated upon on Saturday last by Dr. Field, in the presents of forty or fifty persons.

The bullet entered the mouth on the right side, fracturing the lower jaw, destroying all the teeth in its course, it passed around the root of the tongue and coign in contact with the vertebra its course was directed downward, and lodged beneath the great vessels and nerves of the neck.  The patient was placed under the influence of chloroform and an extensive dissection of the neck made, exposing and turning aside all the great arteries, veins, and nerves and the bullet reached and extracted a distance of at least six inches from the surface; it proved to be an ounce Minnie ball which was indented and battered no little in its course of destination.  During the entire operation, the Captain was motionless and when he revived, he inquired of the Dr. “when he was going to commence.”  The brave Captain prizes the rebel bullet very highly, and declares that he would not part with it for a thousand dollars.

The operation was preformed at the hotel of Captain Seigfried, where those who desire, may see Captain Young and the bullet which was removed from him.

Dr. Field has several other operations, of the same character, to perform during the present week.

At eight o’clock, the roar of the cannon called the volunteers to the rendezvous on Centre Square, and thither the great tied of humanity hurried–blocking up every street and avenue tending in that direction. . . . Two handsome silk Banners, emblazoned with the dear Stars and Stripes, were now to be presented on behalf of the Ladies of Easton. . . .

The ladies, true to the refined sensibilities in their sex, wept freely, but not one breathed an unwillingness that either father, brother or lover should remain behind in this, the hour of his country’s need. . . . In fact the, the selfishness of love was swallowed up in the more divine sentiment of patriotic devotion . . . .   For instance one lady remarked, while the tears coursed down her cheeks, “My son is going and I’m glad of it.  If I had a dozen sons I would urge them all to go, and my parting word would be the injunction of the Spartan mother: ‘Return with your shields or return upon them!”

(Excerpt from article in Easton Argus April 25, 1861) 

Dedication of Civil War Monument Parade on Northampton Street, Easton on 10 May 1900

Only ten years old in 1900, E. St. Clair Faust was a grandson of Sergeant John S. Funk, who served in Company A 174th Regiment during the Civil War. On May 10, 1900, when the monument was dedicated, he was in the Square wearing the Civil War blue uniform with his grandfather.

The following recollection is as described by E.St. Clair Faust many years ago:

The Monument in Centre Square, Easton, PA was erected in 1899.

A copper box was given by Howard Kinsey to the Grand ARmy of the Republic.  It was placed in the Corner Stone on the southwest corner on Wednesday, December 6th, 1899 by a Committee of Lafayette Post 217 G.A.R. at 10 am. It was fair and cold.  The first mayor of Easton, Charles F. Chidsey who served as a Private in Company D 129th Pennsylvania Volunteers.  His History of the Regiment, Condit’s History of Easton, Rules of the Military Grand Army Men, their badges and buttons worn on their uniforms, also the newspaper of the day are in the box which was soldered shut by George Heller.

The top piece on the monument was put in place Saturday, January 20th, 1900.  Frank Reed who served as a Drummer Boy in the 14th New Jersey Regiment posed for the bugler on the monument dedicated Thursday May 10th, 1900.  Oren Serfass presented the monument on behalf of the County Commissioners.

Streets were roped off [with ropes] borrowed from the City of Philadelphia, PA.  There were Grand Army Men of the Civil War, Spanish War Veterans, Son’s of Union Veterans, and Grand Son’s of the Grand Army Veterans all in blue uniforms.  It was estimated that about 10,000 were in the Square.  Pennsylvania Governor W.A. Stone and Charles Miller, Pennsylvania Department of the grand Army of the Republic were the speakers.  About 70,000 were in town.

Courtesy of the NCHGS Jane S. Moyer Library files.