Imagine my surprise when I received an email out of the blue from a woman who is a g-g-g-g-granddaughter of Jacob Bracken! I sent her a note back and hope to hear from her again. I sent her a document that I found on the web about our shared Jacob Bracken. It is interesting to me to read how they had Thanksgiving with a "mouldy" goose....how so taken for granted we are these days. Another note, I know that on May 10, 1864, Jacob's chin was shot off in battle; in this document you can read how others suffered a much worse fate. Worth posting because who knows who is ready and might find their family too! (the document is how I found it with the typos)
JACOB BRACKEN CIVIL WAR CONFIRMATIONFrom:
The Story of Our Regiment: A History of the 148th Pennsylvania Volunteers by Joseph Wendel Muffly (Printed in 1904, Muffly was an Officer. This book has a red trefoil, Printed The Kenyon Printing & Mfg. Co, Des Moines, IO. Book on line was from the University of Michigan library)
1 living Pennsylvania
JACOB BRACKEN Drafted mustered June 1 1863 at Huntingdon Pennsylvania received into C Company October 30 1863 wounded at Po River Virginia May 10 1864 by gun shot wound through chin transferred to Veteran Reserve Corps December 13 1864 living at Johnstown Pennsylvania Excerpt:
THE DRAFTED MEN AND SUBSTITUTE'S STORY.
SUPPLEMENTARY STORY OF II COMPANY.
Compiled by Myton and Woodring.
In preparing some material for the story of Company H, it was found that of the drafted men and substitutes who became members of this company in the latter part of October, 1863, not one of them had deserted, and the original rolls show that, for the time served, their record was as honorable and their losses as heavy as were the records and losses of the original veteran volunteer. This, in the light of what is generally believed to have been common with this class of soldiers, is so praiseworthy and exceptional as to require special recognition. What was true of H was found to be equally true of all the other companies of the Regiment.
These facts excited the curiosity of some of the comrades and, at their solicitation, the men referred to offered their story, which is believed to be worth a place in the record of any organization, great 01 small, that in that great war served the country. The story is derived from the recollection of several comrades and is as nearly in their own language as it is possible to put it in combining their stories.
The squad consisted of eleven men who were all from
Cambria County. The first mustered into the United States service was
Geo. W. Constable, a substitute for his brother. He says:
"I was mustered in on the 23d day of October, 1863, at Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, and, after I had been supplied with a new suit of clothes, was taken upstairs in the Court House, put in a room by myself, the door locked and a guard placed in front of the door. Before that was done I thought T was a patriot but now I thought I was regarded as a criminal. At the close of the day, when the officers had left and the squad of the invalid corps was in charge of a Corporal, he came and talked with me for a long time, asked me why I came to the Army, thought it strange that T should leave a good home to serve in the Army. He kept looking at his watch every few minutes and finally got up and went downstairs, leaving me without a guard and the door unlocked. Presently he came back with two or three others. They told me to take off my new clothes and put on a suit of their clothes; they said mine looked too new. Then we all went downstairs and I was given my first drill. I was instructed how to hold a gun and how to salute officers and they left me to stand guard for them, when the officers were not there. When the roll was called, I fell in with them but, as my name was not on the roll, it was not called and I did not have to answer, but afterward as I performed my guard duty the experience for the day was confusing and I could not understand it. In the morning I had started in as I thought from a high and proper motive, though under a name that did not sound just as well as volunteer. I had been accepted into the service of my country, looked upon as a criminal and before midnight was on guard as a member of the Invalid Corps. I could not understand it at all but I knew I was getting my Army experience wrong end first."
On the 24th of October a large squad was mustered in and in the evening all were shipped for Harrisburg, arriving there during the night, and were quartered in a large building without any light, except the light of a small lamp by which some men were playing cards. In the morning they discovered that their Army experience had indeed begun and they could comb graybacks from their hair with a coarse comb. They were destined for Carlisle and in the morning were placed in charge of a squad of the First Battalion of the Invalid Corps. Arriving at the station, it was found that a train would not leave for some time. They broke up into squads of two or three, each squad in charge of a guard. When they came together again, some of the boys had procured some whiskey and on the road from Harrisburg to Carlisle the guard was supplied with it plentifully, with the result that we entered camp exhibiting the peculiar spectacle of the guarded leading the guard and carrying his guii. They remained at Carlisle two or three days and left for the front in charge of some officers of the 148th.
There were one hundred and twenty-five men in the squad but, when they reached the Regiment, ten men were missing. Fron-. Washington they were shipped on flat cars to Bull Run. Here they found the rebels had torn up the railroad and destroyed some property. This was their first sight of actual war. From this point to the camp of the 148th they had to march. One of them thus graphically describes their march:
"We started on the march and marched till long after dark and got lost in the woods and were ordered to lie down and keep very quiet, for the rebels might hear us. We laid down and did keep very quiet We were all green and they could make us believe anything. The night was very quiet and we slept soundly but just at daybreak we were startled from our beds by the most unearthly noise we ever heard. We jumped from our beds and stood in terror, expecting every moment to be our last We had heard of the rebel yell and I had read in school of the tomahawk and scalping knife and war. whoop. My hair stood on end. I thought my time had come; so we waited for death till daylight revealed the fact that we were near the camp of a large army train and the noise we heard was the government mule ordering his breakfast
"On the march the next day we passed an old field in which were a large number of persimmon trees loaded with fruit. We had never seen persimmons before but the fruit looked luscious and desirable to eat and the officers kindly permitted us to take and we did eat of the unripe fruit and discovered that the officers did it maliciously in the hope that we could then keep our mouths shut
"Our march was a long and weary one. On the road we passed over a bridge, composed entirely of dead horses; it was a good, strong (as to odor) bridge. At last we reached headquarters of the Second Army Corps and were sent to the
148th Regiment When we arrived on the parade the old soldiers did some tall laughing at us but it did not take us long to get naturalized."
When the squad arrived in camp, it was divided into details for each company and afterward the men were permitted to exchange places so that friends could serve together.
Tn this way it came that all the men of Cambria County, Pennsylvania, became members of Company H. They were Uriah K. Brown. John F. Boring, Jacob Bracken, George W. Constable, David B. Jones, Henry Johnston, Williain H. Makin, Adam M. Makin. William Pearson. John Sheeler and George A. Wilson.The laughing and twitting we suffered at the hands of our veteran comrades was all good natured and we found them exceedingly kind and obliging and we soon found ourselves greatly indebted to them for many favors and much wise counsel. At this time there were only sixteen men of the old company present and fit for duty. We were again examined by the regimental surgeon, who remarked that he did not see what they sent such things down there for.
Eight days after joining the Regiment we were given guns and two hours later started for Kelley's Ford, where we were to smell powder and hear the bullets sing for the first time. That night we were put on picket with strict orders to shoot every man that did not stop when ordered. However we did not shoot anyone, and it was seen in the morning that the rebel picket line we were watching so closely was only a row of little cedar trees. From there we marched to Mine Run where the rebel picket line was the real genuine article and did not wait to be shot at but very promptly offered to perform that service for us, without invitation or ceremony
The weather was intensely cold, our blankets froze to the ground, we ran out of provisions and, between hunger and cold, were fast losing our love for the service. Orders came for us to fall back, which we did with alacrity, and the charging rebels followed to see that we got safely over the Rapidan. After ten days of this service we returned to our old quarters and, on December 7, 1863, started to build winter quarters a mile and a half from Stevensburg and spent the winter in drilling and picket duty at Kelley's Ford.
On the 3d of May, 1864, we broke camp, crossed the Rapidan at Ely's Ford and, in the evening, reached the battlefield of Chancellorsville. From there to the Wilderness as we marched we heard the sound of fighting that had already begun. There we were halted and ordered to throw up breastworks. Some men found a plow and tying a rope to it plowed up the ground, while the others threw up the dirt with our tin plates.
We were not under fire in the Wilderness but we ran against a snag at Po River on the 10th of May.
Here the fighting was fast and furious and we new men were under fire for the first time and were able to prove to our comrades that, although a man might wait to be drafted or be willing to serve as a substitute, there was nothing in those facts to prove that he was not willing to meet and endure his full share of service and sacrifice. Five of the new men were killed and seventeen wounded in the entire Regiment in this battle. We were forced back and, to cover our retreat, our batteries on the hill opened fire over our heads and threw their shell so low that they injured some of our new men.The Po River was a narrow stream and the pioneers had felled trees across it and on those we got over. As
George W. Constable approached-one of those logs to cross over a little fellow very badly wounded appealed to him to help him over. He took the small man under his arm and stepped upon the log to cross over. Just then a man stepped in front of him and he promptly pushed him from the log and, when he turned round he saw the man he had pushed off was the Colonel. ConstaMe was frightened but Beaver said, "All right; go ahead!"
At Spotsylvania we charged the rebel line at daylight and took them by surprise. Many threw down their arms and surrendered. We thought we had captured the whole Rebel Army but we were not long in finding out our mistake. They rallied their forces and drove us back. One of the new men said, "I came down that hill ten feet at a jump, a piece of shell or a limb struck me and sent me almost out of sight in the soft ground. I wanted to be entirely out of sight for a while."
We fought and marched day and night; had hardly time to eat. Constable said it took ten miles of fire for him to cook a beef's tongue he had secured and said Captain Montgomery measured the distance.
At the North Anna River we formed in a corn field and were ordered to lie down, a hard rain came up and converted the surface of the corn field into a mud puddle. Among the new men was a queer genius whom we named
Knickenbracken. He would not drill and would not be mustered for pay but, when it came to fighting, was there every time.
Captain Bayard was a little excited and, seeing Knickenbracken lying in the mud, said, "Get up, Knickenbracken!" He rose up on his hands and knees. Just then a rebel shell fell close in front of us "ker flop," throwing the mud all over us, and out of the shower of nnid was the voice of the Captain saying, "Lie down, Knickenbracken." When the mud had all fallen, Knickenbracken peeped out under his blanket and said, "What sort of orders are you giving us, Captain ?"
After more marching and fighting, we at last brought up in front of Petersburg. Here we had a lively time dodging shell and "juking" bullets. It was a very hot place but an interesting one. Here in the fall we were given Spencer rifles and bore our full share of the hard fighting.
On the 27th of October, a detail of one hundred men from our Regiment charged and captured tfae rebel fort in front of us. Ol Company H's detail of ten men in that charge, only three came back alive. William Pearson, one of the new men, came back from the charge wounded. We carried his knapsack to the ambulance on which he left for the hospital. He laughed when we bid him goodbye and said, "Well, I guess I am good for a furlough," and he was>, for in two hours he was dead. We hung around the front of Petersburg sometimes in one fort, then in another.
Our dinner on Thanksgiving Day was something to be thankful for: Goose (mouldy), apples (rotten), baked beans (sour). There were lots of pies at the commissary for the officers, but we shared with them without an invitation.At last we landed at Fort Cummins on the left of the line, with good winter quarters, doing garrison and fatigue duty. The fatigue duty consisted in building a dam to drown the rebels out but we never got any water in the dam. We were allowed whiskey when working on the dam but it never came. One day
Captain Sutton was in charge of the work. We were sure we would have some. He wrote an order and sent a man to the commissary with some canteens for it. He did not return and the Captain sent a Corporal and a guard after him. They found him along the road, took the canteens and started for the dam but did not get there—the temptation was too strong for them—and finally the Captain started to hunt them, found them on the road and to save further trouble took the canteens to camp himself
and that was the last of the whiskey.
While we were there, a man was to be hung for some crime he committed and, while the troops were trying to form a square about the scaffold, they scared up a rabbit and, in the excitement of the chase, almost forgot they had a man to hang.On the 25th of March, 1865, we started for the rebels and were not long in finding them. We had some hard fighting at Southsido Railroad. It was our last fight and we "done them up brown,'* taking a great many prisoners.
After this our Regiment was detailed for forage duty for the Division. We got down to business and soon captured some cattle and an old mule. We drove the cattle ahead of us and loaded the mule with all the knapsacks we could pile on him and he toted them along all right, till in crossing a field below Farmville we came to a wide open ditch over which we wanted him to jump. He refused ; we coaxed him; he could not do it; we persuaded him; he tried, landing on his back in the bottom of the ditch, with our knapsacks under him. We fished them out as best we could and thereafter bore our own burdens.
We soon gathered up a good herd of cows, hogs, sheep and some geese and lived well.
In crossing the country we came to a fine mansion. Some of the boys being of an inquiring turn of mind went in and found peach brandy in the cellar. We had been having plenty of apple jack but it was hot and the drink of common people, but here was the drink of the first families of Virginia, the very "nectar that Jupitet sips." It was soft and smooth and drank well. We drew a tin cup full and drank of it. The effect was magical; we were no longer a predatory band of soldiers tramping over the country, committing various acts of petty larceny, but the very war gods, the conquerers of the realm; all things were ours by sacred right of conquest; why should we not take what we chose ? We drank deeply of the delightful beverage and our importance and the glory we had achieved were greatly increased; the night came on as sweetly as an evening in Araby the blest and we folded ourselves by the wayside as pleasantly as though we had been tucked in a bed of eiderdown and covered with silken wraps by the gentle hands of our mothers. The detail moved on and left us alone in our glory. When we awakened, the sun was shining full in our face, but whether it was rising or setting we could not tell, nor which was east, or west, north or south, or which was the rear or which the front of the Army were problems entirely beyond our ability to solve. We were a vagabond in a land where every man's hand was sure to be against us, as our hand was against every man. Fortunately the lowing of the herd our comrades was driving attracted our attention, giving us direction and, by a forced march, we overtook them.
We arrived just in time. Orders had been received to abandon the herd and join the Brigade. As we came to the front, the cry was everywhere that Lee surrendered and the War was over. Below us was the old Army of Northern Virginia which we had been fighting for four years, broken and ragged and starved but as sullen and belligerent as ever, but they had reached the last ditch; the news was true; Lee had surrendered; our work was done and joy was supreme with the men in blue. Strong men wept for very joy. We were to see again the green hills of our grand old state and enjoy again the comforts and pleasures of our homes. We shook hands with the rebels and congratulated them, then we shook hands and congratulated ourselves; then, with light hearts and springing steps, we began our return march. At Burkesville we received our first mail and the congratulations and praises of our friends, and learned of the excitement reigning at the North.
At Alexandria, with deepest regret, we were separated from our old comrades with whom we had. fought for more than a year, and were transferred to the 53d Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteer Regiment. We saw them break camp and march away for home. A month later we followed them and were soon at our old homes among the green hills of Cambria County, again citizens of our great commonwealth, doing the best we could to discharge the duties of civil life.
As illustrating the intelligence, proficiency and zeal with which some of the drafted men and substitutes discharged their duties a* soldiers, it may be well to add here some facts which appear in the records of the several companies of the Regiment and, in order to understand the significance of them, it is well to remember that this class of recruits joined the Regiment in the autumn and winter of 1863 and the early spring of 1864 and that the Regiment as a whole. having enlisted in September, 1862, had the advantage of a full year of service, and it is not to be presumed that the claims of the older men for promotion would have been ignored for the benefit of those who came later.
The following, who were all drafted men, except where it othei- wise appears, were promoted in their several companies as indicated.
William Latta of B Company was promoted to Corporal August 17, 1864.
Jerome B. Stuart, of C Company, was promoted to Sergeant June 1, 1864, and was subsequently made Second Lieutenant of the 109th United States Colored Troops August 2, 1865. Lewis A. Wood, of the same company, was promoted to Corporal and killed at Po River May 10, 1864.
William J. Bickford, of D Company, was promoted to Corporal December 10, 1864. Jacob Cory, of the same company, promoted to Corporal January 1, 1865. Charles H. Hohnbon, a substitute promoted to Corporal March 14, 1865.
John A. Flack, of H Company, promoted to Corporal January 1, 1865.
Russling S. Adams and Russell Weeks, of I Company, promoted to Corporal; date not given.
At the time the Regiment was mustered out in June, 1865, the men who enlisted early had but two months to serve. All of the original officers and men were, therefore, discharged and the regimental organization as such became extinct. The recruits, drafted men and substitutes, who came to the Regiment in 1863 and 1864, had from one to two years to serve. The able-bodied men of these were, therefore, all transferred to the 53d Regiment of the same brigade which, having enlisted as a veteran regiment, continued its regimental organization, there being an expectation or at least a possibility that their services might be required later either in the South or in Mexico, in case the attempt to establish a monarchical form of government in that country should be persisted in by France.
Excerpt:
After the battle of Gettysburg, following the retreating Confederates to Williamsport, thence to Harper's Ferry and back again to near Culpeper Court House, then, came the affair at Auburn Mills o1' Coffee Hill, the battle of Bristoe Station and back again, covering the retreat of the Army to near Centerville, and then the Mine Run campaign closed the active work for the year 1863. From Mine Run the Regiment returned December 1, 1863, to near Stevens- burg and went into winter quarters.
The company was now commanded by officers thoroughly educated in their duties, seasoned veterans who had faced death in some of the fiercest battles of the War. During the fall of 1863 and the winter of 18(5-4-, forty-six drafted men and recruits were added to the company filling its ranks again and its rolls showed ninety-two effective officers and men.
This new material mixed with the men who remained of the original company, under the circumstances, was soon transformed into disciplined soldiers and when on May 4, 1864, they crossed the Rapidan to begin the campaign of 1864, it was probably a more effective company for active campaigning than it had ever been, its ranks full of strong and vigorous young men, thoroughly drilled and accustomed to the hardship of army life in active service in the field.
The Regiment passed through the battle of the Wilderness without loss, the heavy fighting was on and near the center and on the right and the Regiment was on the extreme left of our line. The following incident, although not strictly a part of the history of Company H is so characteristic of our first Captain, that it has a place here.
In the evening of our first day's fight at the Wilderness, the Regiment was marching toward the right in rear of the battle lino, seeking an opening where it could go into action. Just as the sun was going down the Colonel ordered Major Fairlamb to rido down the line to find an opening in the line where the Regiment could go in. The Major rode down the line but could find no place for the Regiment and it was forced to lie in the rear of the line in reserve, but as the Major was returning he heard the voice of his friend Colonel Hammill of the 64th New York, in the front, where a fierce fight was in progress, giving command. He concluded to join them and rode forward and took part in the fight which resulted in the capture of the 12th North Carolina Regiment. As the Confederates were hurried through our line an enthusiastic soldier of Colonel Hammill's regiment said to the Confederate Colonel, "Johnny, that was a bully fight, why didn't you hold out a little longer?" ''Because I was not a d—d fool," said the Colonel.
When the fight was over, Colonel Beaver rode down the line inquiring for the Major. No one knew where he was, but just then the Major rode out of the brush and said, "Colonel, I could not find a place for the Regiment to go in and knowing it would not be called upon to do any fighting this evening, and hearing Colonel Hammill's voice in the front, where the fighting was going on, I went in with them and we had a nice little fight out there."
On the 10th of May, 1864, a little more than a year after their frightful sacrifices at Chancellorsville, the company was again called on to make sacrifices that seemed out of all proportion to the advantage that could reasonably be expected to be derived from the movement. Early in the day the Division had been thrown across the Po River and for most of the day had been engaged in a fierce fight. Late in the day the other regiments of the Division were withdrawn, leaving the 148th to cover the retreat without noticing that its flanks had been exposed by the withdrawal of the other regimentsof the Brigade. They found themselves late in the day alone, with the Confederates on two sides of them and on the third side a line of fire in the burning woods.
Nothing but the consummate skill and coolness of officers and men saved the Kegiment from destruction or capture. The losses were very heavy. In Company H one man, Isaac Sweetwood, was killed; two, Lieut. James B. Cook and William McDonald, mortally wounded; eleven, William H. Kellerman, Samuel M. Moyer, Jacob Bracken, Darius L. Sanders, John D. Wagoner, Frederick Shaffer, David Stiner, Valentine Stonebraker, Irvin Lowry, Joseph Lape and Henry Johnston, wounded, and one, Ephraim Klinger, captured.
Lieutenant James B. Cook, "Cookie" we always called him, every man in the company loved, for his chivalrous courage and manly kindness. He was the friend of the men he commanded and the hearts of all who knew him sorrowed for him when they heard he was dead, as well those who stood by him in the line of battle when he fell, as of those comrades who by the fortunes of war had been compelled to leave the service and return to their homes and were first apprised of his untimtely death when his name appeared in the long list of the slain in this battle.
A comrade writing of his death says, "We were busily engaged in the fight at Po River when Lieutenant Cook came up to me and said, 'Dan, let me give them a shot.' I loaded up, gave him my gun and stepped back, he stepped into my place and just as he fired, a minie ball from the rebels struck him in the right leg above the knee. He fell back and I caught him in my arms and laid him down."
Two days later the company formed a part of the troops who charged on that angle of the Confederate line at Spotsylvania Court House, appropriately called the "Bloody Angle," and helped to fight the fiercest infantry fight of modern times. They were in the front line and were among the first to enter the Confederate intrenchments. The company was again called upon to suffer heavy losses, having two, Samuel Gunsalis and John W. Carlton killed, and twelve, Uriah K. Brown, Robert Cassidy, John D. Deihl, Robert J. Kelly. Geo. A. Wilson, Christian Stuck, William McKinney, William J. Lucas, Geo. W. Freed, Robert Custard, William H. Klose, Robert Blackburn and Jobn Moore, wounded.
March and counter-march followed this battle, seeking some weak spot in the Confederate line where it could be assaulted with some hope of success. In discomfort and much weariness, they inarched, but always uncomplainingly.
