| The June 1864 transfers from the 71st Pennsylvania Regiment |
| On June 12, 1864 the files of 336 men of the 71st Pennsylvania Regiment were shifted to the 69th Pa. On that date, the 71st Pa Volunteer Regiment was disbanded from the Army of the Potomac for having failed to reenlist at least 50% of its veterans. Unliike most union regiments, the muster in date of the 71st as a volunteer regiment was prior to the muster-in date of many of its individual companies. This was due, in part, to the way in which Senator Edward Baker had organized the 1st California regiment in 1861. As a result, the dissolution of the 71st left many men in companies A,C,H & K with several weeks or months left in their three year enlistment term. An estimated 70 men were in this dilemma and they would all be transfered into the 69th with plans to be mustered out in July or August 1864. There were also about 40 men of the 336 who had been wounded or were sick in hospitals and who would be carried on the rolls of the 69th but never see either regiment again. In addition, about 91 soldiers had joined the 71st in 1862 and 1863 and had time left on their enlistments. Finally, 46 soldiers had been drafted into the 71st after July 1863 and would be transferred to the 69th Pa. Tragically, for some of these men in the 71st Pa, was the fact that 56 veterans of the regiment who were finishing up their term of enlistment were either killed or captured at Jerusalem Plank Road June 22. Many would die at Andersonville. The other 14 soldiers from the 71st who had already decided to be mustered out at the end of their three year term left the 69th on the 31st of August. These included two men in Company C; Private George Kohlan and Private George Harper. Harper ended up working as an Express agent in Annapolis until the end of the war. Four others were in Company I; Privates Peter Hohman, Joseph Goodrich, William Ogden, and William Weaver. Somehow, on the final date of August paperwork came through to discharge Sgt William Burns who had served in the 71st Pa and had been transferred on paper to Company B of the 69th. However, Sgt Burns had been wounded at Fredericksburg and had died in a Washington hospital back on December 23, 1862 from his gunshot wound to the liver. A careful examination of the morning reports show that only 51 soldiers who had been attached to the 69th Pa from the 71st ever fought in battle with "Paddy Owen's Regulars" from August 1864 through April 1865. |
| The March 1864 Furlough of the 69th Pa |
| Those men who had reenlisted in the 69th Pa as "Veteran Volunteers were busy in Philadelphia during their furlough home. Of course, each man spent time with family while home, but in addition, the regiment participated in at least one funeral service. On March 14th the body of Colonel Peter A. McAloon, of the 27th Pa, was laid to rest. McAloon had been active in the Irish Militia before the war in the Richmond section of Philadelphia (today Port Richmond) but had joined the 27th Pa three month unit rather than the 24th three month unit at the start of the war. When one company of the 27th arranged to switch to the new 69th regiment in August 1861, McAloon remained in the 27th rising from Sergeant to Lieutenant to Lt. Colonel. He was killed in the fighting as Sherman began his "march to the sea" through Tennessee and Georgia and his body returned to Philadelphia. A notice appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer March 14, 1864 The following order has been issued in reference to the Sixty-ninth Regiment. Headquarters March 12, 1864 - In compliance with an invitation extended to us as compatriots of a brave soldier and gallant hero, who fell in the line of duty, and in the strict discharge thereof, the staff and line officers and enlisted men of this regiment are requested to parade fully equiped in marching order, on Monday the 14th inst., to act as funeral escort of the late Lieutenant Colonel MCALOON, of the Twenty seventh Regiment P.V. U.S.A. The regimental line will be formed on Sansom Street at half past eight o'clock, the right resting on seventh street. WM DAVIS Major Commanding Sixty-ninth Reg. P.V. U.S.A. Wm. Whildey, Regimental Adjutant |
| Anti-Irish Sentiments Remain |
| Page 909 - On October 1, 1864 Major William Smith took terporary command of the 69th regiment. An outsider, Smith had been placed in command from the Division level. A letter he sent home to his wife on October 9th spoke of the anti-Irish bias he held My Dear Sister - On the first of the month I was detailed to take command of the 69th Pa Regt. It's an Irish regiment and none of it's officers are competent to command a regt. I am getting things into shape and will have agood regt before long. In addition major Smith made it clear in his letter that he would be working to bring forth a solid Republican vote in the group he now commanded. |